Current World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) points leader and top ranked ISAF Open sailor Ian Williams made a winning start to his bid for a second Argo Group Gold Cup in Hamilton Harbour yesterday.The Englishman went unbeaten in his opening four Group Three matches to keep firmly on course to advance to the business end of the $100,000 WMRT-sanctioned regatta.After laying down his marker Williams chose to downplay his solid start to his Gold Cup campaign.“We are obviously pleased to have won four races but they were all tough races,” he said. “We were behind in two of them and Simone (Ferrarese) and a penalty down in our third race of the day so we had to work hard for it.”Williams, who already has two wins on this year’s WMRT, praised his teammates for getting the boat around the racecourse fast in unstable breezes that forced the race committee to alter the course towards the end of yesterday’s racing.“I think we got the boat going really fast today and so all credit to the crew who all did a great job,” he added. “I’m really pleased with the way the team came together, particularly in the shifty and gusty conditions.“Getting the shifts right is important but actually just keeping the boat going fast through the water is critical in the shifty stuff. And I think that’s where we perhaps had an edge over some of the guys who have spent a little less time sailing in the IODs so hopefully we can keep that going.”Williams, whose sole win here arrived in 2006, is expected to encounter a more daunting task when racing resumes today against French pair Mathieu Richard and Damien Iehl who are also yet to taste defeat in Group Three.Also going unbeaten yesterday were 2002 Gold Cup winner Jesper Radich (Denmark), Staffan Lindberg (Finland) and WMRT championship contender Francesco Bruni (Italy) in Group One.In Group Two past Gold Cup winner Johnie Berntsson (Sweden), Taylor Canfield (US Virgin Islands) and Phil Robertson (New Zealand) all picked up three wins to keep their hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals alive. Not far behind the trio are Australia’s Peter Gilmour and Torvar Mirsky with two wins under the belts.