The British Open final on Sunday will be contested between Mark Selby and Mark Williams at The Centaur in Cheltenham.
The random-draw format may have accounted for some big names early on, but the end result is a familiar one.
Two heavyweight competitors will do battle for the third ranking title of the 2023/24 snooker season and a top prize of £100,000.
Selby, making a sixth straight semi-final appearance on the tour on Saturday, thrashed Xiao Guodong 6-0 in his last-four clash.
Earlier, Mark Williams emerged from a mostly scrappy and error-strewn affair with Hossein Vafaei with a 6-3 triumph.
It sets up an intriguing showdown between a couple of all-time greats who boast seven World Championship titles between them.
Williams, who was the runner-up in the season-opening Championship League, will have another crack at landing what would be a 25th career ranking title.
The 48 year-old’s last ranking glory came in the 2021 British Open, when he beat Gary Wilson in the final in Leicester.
Success for Selby would represent his 23rd at this level and a first since landing the WST Classic in March.
The Englishman possesses a superior head-to-head record against Williams, winning 22 of the 39 matches they’ve played in all competitions.
The pair’s most recent clash was at the Crucible Theatre in 2021, when Selby thumped the Welshman 13-3 in the World Championship quarter-finals with a session to spare.
It would be a surprise if this best-of-19 clash was so one-sided, although it should be noted that Selby has won six of the last seven meetings.
The only positive result for Williams during that period since 2018 was a solitary defeat of the 40 year-old behind closed doors in the Championship League.
This title-deciding tie will represent their fifth in a final with the honours having been shared from the previous four showpiece occasions.
Two of those finals ended in deciders and the other two in the penultimate frame of the allotted amount.
There will be many neutral supporters who will be hoping that this British Open final will be just as close.
British Open draw and schedule
Last 128
(held over fixtures)
Robert Milkins 4-2 Jiang Jun
Judd Trump 4-2 Anton Kazakov
Ali Carter 4-3 Allan Taylor
Luca Brecel 3-4 Ding Junhui
Gary Wilson 4-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Neil Robertson 4-1 Jamie Clarke
Mark Allen 4-1 Anthony McGill
Mark Williams 4-1 Peng Yisong
Mark Selby 4-2 Ben Woollaston
Ryan Day 4-0 Sean O’Sullivan
Kyren Wilson 4-1 Martin O’Donnell
Steven Hallworth 0-4 Jimmy Robertson
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Rebecca Kenna
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Joe O’Connor
John Higgins 4-1 Long Zehuang
Barry Hawkins 4-1 Stan Moody
Last 64
Xu Si 4-0 Ali Carter
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 1-4 Oliver Lines
Ma Hailong 4-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Yuan Sijun 4-0 Ben Mertens
Judd Trump 3-4 Hammad Miah
Oliver Brown 2-4 Hossein Vafaei
Lyu Haotian 3-4 David Gilbert
Noppon Saengkham 2-4 Fergal O’Brien
Si Jiahui 4-1 Neil Robertson
Stephen Maguire 2-4 Mark Williams
Scott Donaldson 4-0 Liam Graham
Jamie Jones 0-4 Julien Leclercq
Robert Milkins 1-4 Barry Hawkins
Ken Doherty 3-4 Matthew Stevens
Jimmy Robertson 4-3 Wu Yize
Andy Hicks 2-4 Graeme Dott
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Shaun Murphy
Gary Wilson 4-3 Chris Wakelin
Anthony Hamilton 0-4 Xiao Guodong
Rod Lawler 4-1 Dominic Dale
Ryan Day 4-1 Thor Chuan Leong
Ding Junhui 4-3 Liu Hongyu
Fan Zhengyi 4-1 Ross Muir
He Guoqiang 4-1 Muhammad Asif
John Higgins 1-4 Robbie Williams
Mark Selby 4-2 Tian Pengfei
Daniel Wells 2-4 Ashley Carty
Matthew Selt 4-1 Zak Surety
Mark Allen 0-4 Kyren Wilson
Stuart Bingham 2-4 Ishpreet Singh
Tom Ford 4-3 Ashley Hugill
David Grace 3-4 Sanderson Lam
Last 32
Matthew Stevens 3-4 Fergal O’Brien
Yuan Sijun 2-4 Hossein Vafaei
Mark Williams 4-2 Gary Wilson
Hammad Miah 3-4 Ma Hailong
Graeme Dott 4-0 Ashley Carty
Ali Carter 4-2 Ryan Day
Julien Leclercq 0-4 Ding Junhui
Oliver Lines 1-4 He Guoqiang
Scott Donaldson 4-1 Robbie Williams
David Gilbert 4-1 Ishpreet Singh
Xiao Guodong 4-1 Sanderson Lam
Barry Hawkins 4-1 Kyren Wilson
Si Jiahui 1-4 Mark Selby
Jimmy Robertson 0-4 Tom Ford
Rod Lawler 2-4 Fan Zhengyi
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Matthew Selt
Last 16
Ding Junhui 2-4 Mark Williams
Graeme Dott 2-4 Hossein Vafaei
Ali Carter 2-4 Xiao Guodong
Tom Ford 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Barry Hawkins 3-4 He Guoqiang
Fan Zhengyi 4-1 Ma Hailong
David Gilbert 3-4 Mark Selby
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Fergal O’Brien
Quarter-Finals
Mark Williams 5-1 Fan Zhengyi
Hossein Vafaei 5-2 He Guoqiang
Tom Ford 3-5 Xiao Guodong
Mark Selby 5-4 Jack Lisowski
Semi-Finals
Mark Williams 6-3 Hossein Vafaei
Xiao Guodong 0-6 Mark Selby
Final
Mark Williams 10-7 Mark Selby
Featured photo credit: WST
A notable aspect of their head-to-head was these two have never met in a semi-final.
The first clash was as far back as 1999 – the year Selby turned pro – and Williams whitewashed the Leicester man 9-0.
Williams is appearing in his 40th ranking final. This is Selby’s 34th.