Judd Trump is bidding for a second UK Championship title (Picture: Getty Images)
The UK Championship draw has been made, with the main event getting underway on Saturday afternoon at the Barbican in York.
Qualifying will come to an end on Thursday evening in Leicester, when 16 players will have won their way through to join the world’s top 16 at the popular venue.
Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has been handed a tough first task in Barry Hawkins, in a repeat of the 2013 World Championship final.
World number one Judd Trump is looking for a second UK title and will begin his campaign in York against either Neil Robertson or Matthew Stevens.
World champion Kyren Wilson is looking to win the prestigious event for the first time and has been drawn against Stephen Maguire.
Mark Selby taking on Jack Lisowski will be a first round match not to miss, as will be an all-Chinese affair between Si Jiahui and Wu Yize which should provide brilliant entertainment.
The event gets underway in some style on Saturday afternoon with the clash between the Rocket and the Hawk.
UK Championship draw and schedule
Saturday 23 November
1pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Barry Hawkins
Shaun Murphy vs Zhao Xintong
7pm
Ding Junhui vs Milkins/Xu
Xiao Guodong vs Dave Gilbert
Sunday 24 November
1pm
Mark Allen vs Jackson Page
Ali Carter vs Ryan Day
7pm
Si Jiahui vs Wu Yize
Mark Selby vs Jack Lisowski
Mark Selby is a two-time UK Championship winner (Picture: Getty Images)
Monday 25 November
1pm
Chris Wakelin vs Zhou Yuelong/Matt Selt
Kyren Wilson vs Stephen Maguire
7pm
Luca Brecel vs Jak Jones
Gary Wilson vs Liu Hongyu/Michael Holt
Tuesday 26 November
1pm
John Higgins vs He Guoqiang/Stan Moody
Judd Trump vs Neil Robertson/Matthew Stevens
7pm
Mark Williams vs Stuart Bingham
Zhang Anda vs Ben Woollaston/Lei Peifan
Mark Williams holds the Tour Championship and Champion of Champions titles (Picture: Getty Images)
UK Championship Draw
O’Sullivan/Hawkins
Xiao/Gilbert/Leclercq
Murphy/Zhao/Walden
Ding/Milkins/Xu
Selby/Lisowski
Carter/Day
Si/Wu
Allen/Page
–
Trump/Robertson/Stevens
Higgins/He/Moody
Zhang/Lei/Woollaston
Williams/Bingham
Brecel/Jones
G Wilson/Liu/Holt
Wakelin/Zhou/Selt
K Wilson/Maguire
The first players to come through qualifying were Stuart Bingham and Jackson Page on Wednesday afternoon after comfortable wins over Jimmy Robertson and Hossein Vafaei respectively.
This year’s World Championship runner-up Jak Jones joined them, with Stephen Maguire the last to come through on Wednesday afternoon thanks to a dramatic 6-5 win over Elliot Slessor.
In the evening session Jack Lisowski, Ryan Day, Wu Yize and Barry Hawkins emerged from their Judgement Day contests.
How to watch the UK Championship
The BBC and Eurosport/Discovery+ will be showing the tournament live.
The schedules are available here for BBC and Eurosport.
UK Championship prize money
Winner: £250,000
Runner-up: £100,000
Semi-final: £50,000
Quarter-final: £25,000
Last 16: £15,000
Last 32: £10,000