Karl Boyes & Jake McCartney declared themselves as serious contenders for the Ultimate Pool Pairs Cup title after they waltzed through to the last 16 of the competition on Monday night.

The English-Australian combination gelled superbly, becoming only the second team in Pairs Cup history to win all three group games and reach the target of four frames in each match in a group. They finished the evening in Newcastle-under-Lyme with a frame aggregate of 12-1, the best record of any qualifiers, so far, during this latest edition of the tournament.

After sweeping aside Kevin Kirkham & Garry Southern 4-0 (reverse clearance for Boyes, break clearance for McCartney) in the second match of the night, the entertaining duo faced fellow opening session winners Brian Halcrow & Andrew Russell in match four.

However, Boyes – fresh from reaching the final of the Players Championship the day before - & McCartney were even more impressive, going break clearance (scotch doubles) - reverse clearance (Boyes) - break clearance (McCartney) during another 4-0 success.

And, for the second week running, the group leaders qualified with a game to spare, as the already eliminated Kirkham & Southern drew 2-2 with Halcrow & Russell to end their outside hopes.

Returning to complete the fixture list, Boyes & McCartney went 2-0 up, but their sequence of frames came to an end when Paul Willis – who was playing alongside his father, James – crafted a break clearance in frame three.

The winning duo, though, did eventually wrap up a 4-1 victory to remain with a 100% match win record and make a statement of intent to the rest of the field.