Maltese cueists Tony Drago and Alex Borg are taking part in the Royal London Watches Grand Prix qualifying rounds.

The tournament is played on a different format as there are eight qualifying groups of seven players each, from which the first two-placed will qualify for the round of 16.

Tony Drago is in Group 1C and by yesterday he had played four matches, winning two and losing the other two.

He beat Rory McLeod 3-2, then lost against Jamie Cope 3-1 and against Rod Lawler 3-2, before going on to clinch a second win, against Chris Melling 3-2.

Alex Borg has had a far more difficult start as he has suffered three consecutive defeats. First he lost to Mohammed Shehab 3-1, then to Chris Norbury 3-1 and again by the same score to Robin Hull.

More qualification rounds are to be played today where Drago is to meet Mark Boyle and Borg will be facing Liu Song and Stuart Pettman.

Tomorrow, the final day of qualifying, Drago meets Paul S. Davison, while Borg’s last commitment will be against Adrian Gunnell.

The finals of the tournament will be staged in Aberdeen, Scotland, between 21 and 29 October.