Jimmy White and Matthew Stevens booked their spots at the UK Championship after victories in the final qualifying round on Wednesday.
The pair met 19 years ago at the semi-final stage of the competition, with Stevens proceeding to lift his one and only career ranking trophy that year.
White’s UK triumph was even further back, and the Whirlwind is celebrating the 30th anniversary of his famous victory in 1992.
At 60, he becomes the oldest player to reach the last 32 of a ranking event in almost three decades.
White fought his way through from the first qualifying round at the weekend – beating Victor Sarkis and Mitchell Mann with whitewash displays.
A statement 6-4 success over Stephen Maguire followed, and White wrapped up his qualification with a one-sided defeat of Dominic Dale on the first of two Judgement Days in Sheffield.
Stevens, meanwhile, fought back from 5-4 down to pip Wu Yize in a decider at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre.
The pair awaits Thursday’s draw for the last 32 at the Barbican Centre in York, with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, and reigning champion Zhao Xintong among the top 16 competitors they could face next.
Elsewhere, Zhou Yuelong, Lyu Haotian, and Xu Si made it a decent day for the Chinese contingent despite Wu’s harsh exit.
Zhou overcame Jak Jones 6-3, Lyu thrashed a frustrated Andy Hicks 6-1, and Xu ousted countryman Tian Pengfei in a nail-biting finish.
The 6-4 outcome of the latter fixture hinged on the first and last frames that each went to re-spotted blacks that were potted by Xu.
Meanwhile, Hossein Vafaei, Tom Ford and, Jamie Clarke will be dangerous propositions in the main draw after earning respective victories over Robbie Williams, Noppon Saengkham, and Duane Jones.
On Thursday, the qualifiers reach their conclusion with eight more final-round clashes to be contested.
UK Championship qualifying draw and schedule
Judgement Day (Round 4)
Wednesday’s Results
Duane Jones 3-6 Jamie Clarke
Tom Ford 6-3 Noppon Saengkham
Dominic Dale 1-6 Jimmy White
Tian Pengfei 4-6 Xu Si
Zhou Yuelong 6-3 Jak Jones
Wu Yize 5-6 Matthew Stevens
Lyu Haotian 6-1 Andy Hicks
Robbie Williams 4-6 Hossein Vafaei
Thursday at 1pm GMT
David Gilbert vs Mark King
Joe Perry vs Graeme Dott
Ding Junhui vs Robert Milkins
Zak Surety vs Jordan Brown
Thursday at 7pm GMT
Ali Carter vs Liam Highfield
Matthew Selt vs Anthony Hamilton
Xiao Guodong vs Andres Petrov
Sam Craigie vs Ian Burns
Where to watch Judgement Day?
Judgement Day matches in the UK Championship qualifying draw will be available to watch on the World Snooker Tour’s YouTube and Facebook channels.
Subscribers to discovery+ can also follow the action live throughout both days.
Featured photo credit: WST
Are you going to make a prediction for the first round of the main draw?
I’ll definitely preview it, but maybe no specific predictions. From the quarter-finals onward maybe.