After the Fleetwood thrower defeated Colin Lloyd 5-4 in a real thriller, he beat Darin Young 5-3 yesterday at the Wolverhampton Civic Centre.

Now Newton, who battled through against 200 rivals for a place in the ITV-televised tournament, can clinch his place in the next stage with victory over Terry Jenkins in tomorrow's final group match.

Newton edged out Lloyd in a final-leg shoot-out on Saturday. Having led twice, the Fylde ace found himself 3-2 down before hitting back to lead 4-3 as Lloyd missed five doubles in both legs.

The former World Matchplay champion at Blackpool recovered to take the match to a decider, which Newton won with a double 16.

Against American Young, Newton lost the first leg but was never behind again. Young levelled at 3-3 before Newton stormed to victory.
Newton said: "I don't think I'm playing as well as I can but I'm winning.

"The game against Colin was poor but I'll take a win any day of the week. We didn't find our range but I hung in there.

"Over the last month or so I have played really well and I am expecting a lot from myself this week."
Tomorrow's opponent Jenkins also defeated Lloyd but lost to Young.