Top seed and defending champion Sargon Isaac has cruised through his group to book a place in the Round of 16 of this year's United States National Snooker Championship at the Snooker 147 Bar & Grill in Houston, Texas.

The Californian justified his position as title favorite with three straight Group A match victories out of three without the loss of a single frame, but his main rivals were also in very good form in the group stage of the Championship.

The number two seeded player and three-times former champion Ahmed Aly Elsayed also advanced into the Round of 16 with three Group D victories, which included a top break of 57, and the number three seed and former champion Ajeya Prabhakar was very impressive as he scored excellent breaks of 55 and 76 on the way to winning Group E without conceding a frame.

Arizona's Romil Azemat was also in very fine form as the number four seed and 2006 Championship runner-up came through Group G with an umblemished frame record, though the number five seed Henry Wong found the going a little more tough in Group H as he claimed the runner-up spot to the home debutant Championship player, Mark White.

A top break of 53 assisted Raymond Fung's easy passage out of Group C as the number six seed from New York hopes to go one better than he did in the 2004 Championship, however the number seven seed, Jian Qiang Wang, was the only seeded player not to qualify as he failed to get out of Group F, yielding the top two places to Texas debutant players Andy Jewtha and Omar Moton respectively.

One of the most impressive performances from the group phase however was from 77-year-old Tom Kollins, as the record five-time Champion seeded eight in the Championship won all four of his Group B matches which included a 2-1 victory over group runner-up, the former U.S. Open 9-Ball Pool Champion Corey Deuel.

The final group placings are as follows:

Group A - Final Positions		Matches		Frames
Pos.	Player	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Diff.
1	Sargon Isaac (California) 1	3	0	6	0	6
2	Kevin Wong (New York)	2	1	4	2	2
3	Pravin Patel (Texas)	1	2	2	5	-3
4	Jason Orlando (Texas)	0	3	1	6	-5
Results (breaks in brackets): Isaac (34) def. Orlando 2-0; Wong def. Patel 2-0; Isaac def. Patel 2-0; Wong def. Orlando 2-0; Isaac def. Wong 2-0; Patel def. Orlando 2-1.

Group B - Final Positions		Matches		Frames
Pos.	Player	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Diff.
1	Tom Kollins (Illinois) 8	4	0	8	1	7
2	Corey Deuel (Florida)	2	2	5	5	0
3	Mihai Visovan (California)	2	2	5	4	1
4	Pedram Tabrisy (Maryland)	1	3	2	6	-4
5	Marlin Li (New York)	1	3	2	6	-4
Results (breaks in brackets): Kollins (32) def. Visovan 2-0; Deuel (53) def. Tabrisy 2-0; Kollins def. Deuel 2-1; Visovan def. Li 2-0; Kollins def. Tabrisy 2-0; Li def. Deuel 2-0; Kollins def. Li 2-0; Visovan def. Tabrisy 2-0; Deuel (33) def. Visovan (32) 2-1; Tabrisy def. Li 2-0.

Group C - Final Positions		Matches		Frames
Pos.	Player	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Diff.
1	Raymond Fung (New York) 6	3	0	6	1	5
2	Cheang Ciing Yoo (Washington)	2	1	5	4	1
3	Mani Hassan (Texas)	1	2	3	4	-1
4	Rhett McCreless (Alabama)	0	3	1	6	-5
Results (breaks in brackets): Fung (53) def. McCreless 2-0; Yoo (32) def. Hassan 2-1; Fung def. Hassan 2-0; Yoo (34) def. McCreless 2-1; Fung (37) def. Yoo 2-1; Hassan def. McCreless 2-0.

Group D - Final Positions		Matches		Frames
Pos.	Player	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Diff.
1	Ahmed Aly Elsayed (New York) 2	3	0	6	1	5
2	Lap Mui (New York)	2	1	4	3	1
3	Waqqas Ghaffar (Texas)	1	2	3	4	-1
4	Nick Buttery (Texas)	0	3	1	6	-5
Results (breaks in brackets): Elsayed (57) def. Ghaffar 2-1; Mui def. Buttery 2-1; Elsayed (38) def. Buttery 2-0; Mui def. Ghaffar 2-0; Elsayed def. Mui 2-0; Ghaffar def. Buttery 2-0.

Group E - Final Positions		Matches		Frames
Pos.	Player	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Diff.
1	Ajeya Prabhakar (California) 3	3	0	6	0	6
2	Mohammed Ajmal (Texas)	2	1	4	2	2
3	Jeff Szafransky (California)	1	2	2	4	-2
4	Suleiman Moton (Texas)	0	3	0	6	-6
Results (breaks in brackets): Prabhakar (55) def. Ajmal 2-0; Szafransky (30) def. Moton 2-0; Prabhakar def. Moton 2-0; Ajmal def. Szafransky 2-0; Prabhakar (76) def. Szafransky 2-0; Ajmal def. Moton 2-0.

Group F - Final Positions		Matches		Frames
Pos.	Player	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Diff.
1	Andy Jethwa (Texas)	3	0	6	0	6
2	Omar Moton (Texas)	2	1	4	3	1
3	Jian Qiang Wang (New York) 7	1	2	2	5	-3
4	Srinivas Bedadakota (Illinois)	0	3	1	6	-5
Results (breaks in brackets): Wang def. Bedadakota 2-0; Jethwa def. Moton 2-0; Jethwa def. Wang 2-0; Moton def. Bedadakota 2-1; Moton def. Wang 2-0; Jewtha def. Bedadakota 2-0.

Group G - Final Positions		Matches		Frames
Pos.	Player	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Diff.
1	Romil Azemat (Arizona) 4	3	0	6	0	6
2	Vaishal Talati (Illinois)	2	1	4	2	2
3	Aurangzeb Mahmud (Texas)	1	2	2	5	-3
4	Adewale Okunoren (Texas)	0	3	1	6	-5
Results (breaks in brackets): Azemat def. Okunoren 2-0; Talati def. Mahmud 2-0; Azemat def. Mahmud 2-0; Talati def. Okunoren 2-0; Azemat def. Talati 2-0; Mahmud def. Okunoren 2-1.

Group H - Final Positions		Matches		Frames
Pos.	Player	Won	Lost	Won	Lost	Diff.
1	Mark White (Texas)	3	0	6	2	4
2	Henry Wong (New Jersey) 5	2	1	5	2	3
3	Muslim Sarfaraz (Texas)	1	2	3	4	-1
4	Michael Collins (Kentucky)	0	3	0	6	-6
Results (breaks in brackets): Wong def. Sarfaraz 2-0; White (46) def. Collins 2-0; Wong def. Collins 2-0; White def. Sarfaraz 2-1; White (51) def. Wong 2-1; Sarfaraz def. Collins 2-0.

The knockout phase of the Championship will now get underway later today, with the Round of 16 draw as follows:

Round Of 16 (Best-of-5-frames)
Match ID	Player		Player
K1	Sargon Isaac (California) 1	vs.	Omar Moton (Texas)
K2	Tom Kollins (Illinois) 8	vs.	Lap Mui (New York)
K3	Mark White (Texas)	vs.	Mohammed Ajmal (Texas)
K4	Romil Azemat (Arizona) 4	vs.	Cheang Ciing Yoo (Washington)
K5	Ajeya Prabhakar (California) 3	vs.	Henry Wong (New Jersey) 5
K6	Raymond Fung (New York) 6	vs.	Vaishal Talati (Illinois)
K7	Andy Jethwa (Texas)	vs.	Kevin Wong (New York)
K8	Ahmed Aly Elsayed (New York) 2	vs.	Corey Deuel (Florida)

Full coverage of the Championship will be here on SnookerUSA.com.