Shaun Chipperfield and Karl Sutton were made to sweat in more ways than one before emerging as group winners and becoming the first team through to the last 16 of the Ultimate Pool Pairs Cup.

The opening group in Newcastle-under-Lyme signaled the start of Ultimate Pool’s latest major live televised event on Monday nights on FreeSports TV. Consisting of a unique scotch doubles and singles format with 64-player teams, the world’s best will join forces across 21 weeks for a slice of the £32,800 on offer.

Fans got a glimpse of what to expect throughout the tournament during the first outing with twists and turns, camaraderie and amazing moments, but even in week one we may be stretched to see a more exciting climax as the East Anglian duo progressed after a pulsating 6-reds scotch doubles shootout.

The session got underway with a low-scoring and tense 2-1 win for the Welsh pairing of Luke Vokes and Curtis Lee over Scotland’s Ross Fernie and Marc Fleming. Chipperfield and Sutton – who shared a world championship final in 2016, with the former coming out on top – were then made to work as they shared the spoils by drawing with group outsiders Matt Rowland and Adam Myerscough, 2-2.

Plucky duo Rowland and Myerscough continued to rip up the formbook, keeping their hopes alive with another 2-2 draw against Fernie and Fleming. There was then a third consecutive 2-2 draw as Chipperfield and Sutton somehow escaped with a point against Vokes and Lee, despite the Welshmen squandering chances in frames two and three which they went on to lose.

Going into the final round of fixtures, only the Scots could not top the table and qualify. They completed their playing duties, though, largely as spectators as Chipperfield and Sutton produced by far the most fluent performance of the night in a 4-0 win.

That victory temporarily put them top of the pile, but destiny was out of their own hands and they were relying on Vokes and Lee not winning to force a 6-reds shootout. And that is exactly what happened, when underdogs Rowland and Myerscough recorded a shock 3-1 win.

That result meant both teams were undefeated and ended up on four points each. Therefore, a 6-reds scotch doubles (alternate shots) shootout was required to determine the winners.

Chipperfield and Sutton then registered almost the perfect shootout display, scoring a super quick time of just 21.65 seconds – a target that Rowland and Myerscough got nowhere close to bettering.

Week two of the event sees former World Masters champion Josh Kane and a current World Champion in Jon McAllister teaming up for success.