It’s Judgement Day at the Morningside Arena in Leicester for the remaining contenders in the UK Championship qualifiers.
The top 16 in the world rankings have already guaranteed their berths in the first round draw.
Mark Allen – the Champion of Champions winner last weekend – will begin his defence of the Triple Crown title at the Barbican Centre in York on Saturday afternoon.
The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Luca Brecel, Judd Trump, and Mark Selby are each awaiting an opponent in the last 32 as well.
UK Championship top 16 seeds
1. Mark Allen (defending champion)
2. Luca Brecel (world champion)
3. Ronnie O’Sullivan
4. Judd Trump
5. Mark Selby
6. Neil Robertson
7. Shaun Murphy
8. Kyren Wilson
9. Mark Williams
10. Ali Carter
11. John Higgins
12. Barry Hawkins
13. Jack Lisowski
14. Robert Milkins
15. Zhang Anda
16. Tom Ford
Judgement Day
On Wednesday and Thursday, the fourth and final round of the UK Championship qualifiers – known as Judgement Day – will take place.
The remaining 32 competitors have won at least one match to get this far, and in some cases they have fought their way through from the very first hurdle.
That includes 1997 world champion Ken Doherty – a three-time UK Championship finalist – and Craig Steadman, who these days competes as an amateur.
Doherty and Steadman will face Chinese duo Yuan Sijun and Pang Junxu in their respective ties on Thursday.
Also hoping to qualify on the last day of the preliminary stages is Stephen Maguire, who secured his sole Triple Crown title 19 years ago with victory in the 2004 UK Championship.
The Scot, who has shown several signs of a return to form this season, encounters last season’s Scottish Open runner-up Joe O’Connor.
Hossein Vafaei, who just missed out on an automatic ticket to York, meets Scott Donaldson after the pair thrashed Martin O’Donnell and Sam Craigie respectively in the previous round.
Joe Perry and Zhou Yuelong will be favourites to overcome Mark Joyce and Ian Burns, with Ben Woollaston in action against Lukas Kleckers and David Lilley taking on Elliot Slessor.
Before all that on Wednesday, meanwhile, Ding Junhui will be hoping to safely advance to the venue phase of the prestigious competition.
Ding is a three-time UK champion and also reached the final twelve months ago, where he blew a 6-1 lead in eventual defeat to Allen.
The 36 year-old has odds of 33/1 to go one better this year and capture the title for a fourth time, but he has to make the main draw first.
Ding plays Robbie Williams, who needed to sink the final black in the deciding frame to deny 2003 UK champion Matthew Stevens in the third qualifying round.
A fascinating duel pits Thepchaiya Un-Nooh against Ricky Walden, while Anthony McGill versus Anthony Hamilton is another battle featuring two former ranking event winners.
Noppon Saengkham and Wu Yize have both demonstrated form at times during this campaign and will be disappointed to miss out on a place in the first-round proper.
Saengkham is the slight favourite in the match betting odds but has been a bit quieter of late, with Wu a semi-finalist at last month’s Wuhan Open.
The other four Judgement Day matches in the UK Championship qualifiers also look difficult to predict.
David Gilbert entertains Jamie Clarke, Matthew Selt faces Lyu Haotian, Michael White challenges Fan Zhengyi, and Jamie Jones is up against Zak Surety
For the latest betting odds at the UK Championship, there are a growing number of online bookmakers that cover snooker, and many of these options have sign-up offers that can be easily availed of (source: safebettingsites.com).
How to watch the UK Championship qualifiers
Coverage of Judgement Day on Wednesday and Thursday will be on discovery+ and the Eurosport app across Europe.
Viewers in other territories (other than China) can watch via a Matchroom.Live subscription.
Matches are also available worldwide on the World Snooker Tour Facebook and YouTube channels.
There will be roving coverage of all four tables plus interviews with the winning players throughout.
UK Championship qualifiers draw
Round 1 – L144 (bo11)
Saturday, Nov 18
1. Daniel Wells 6-2 Mostafa Dorgham
2. Jenson Kendrick 6-4 Oliver Briffett-Payne
3. Adam Duffy 3-6 Mink Nutcharut
4. Stuart Carrington 6-2 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
5. Mohamed Ibrahim 6-3 Victor Sarkis
6. Marco Fu 6-5 Michael Holt
7. Anton Kazakov 1-6 Ryan Davies
8. Xing Zihao 6-2 Jimmy White
9. Ross Muir 6-1 Andrew Pagett
10. Stan Moody 6-3 Filips Kalnins
11. Peng Yisong 6-0 Umut Dikme
12. Alfie Burden 1-6 Oliver Sykes
13. Ma Hailong 6-4 Sydney Wilson
14. Fergal O’Brien 2-6 Robbie McGuigan
15. Jiang Jun 6-0 Rebecca Kenna
16. Allan Taylor 6-5 Liam Davies
17. Rod Lawler 6-2 Liam Graham
18. Ryan Thomerson 6-5 Reanne Evans
19. Andy Lee 6-2 Joel Connolly
20. Liam Pullen 1-6 Iulian Boiko
21. Long Zehuang 6-5 Haydon Pinhey
22. Oliver Brown 1-6 Dean Young
23. Andrew Higginson 4-6 Alexander Ursenbacher
24. Muhammad Asif 1-6 Duane Jones
Sunday, Nov 19
25. Sean O’Sullivan 6-5 Baipat Siripaporn (Sat)
26. Louis Heathcote 6-0 Ahmed Aly Elsayed (Sat)
27. Hammad Miah 6-3 Bulcsu Revesz
28. Ian Burns 6-0 Amaan Iqbal
29. Ishpreet Singh Chadha 3-6 Gao Yang
30. Andres Petrov 3-6 Craig Steadman
31. Rory Thor 6-0 Riley Powell
32. Martin O’Donnell 6-4 Jack Borwick
Round 2 – L112 (bo11)
33. Ashley Carty 2-6 Daniel Wells
34. Robbie Williams 6-1 Jenson Kendrick
35. Michael White 6-5 Mink Nutcharut
36. Martin Gould 6-0 Stuart Carrington
37. Andy Hicks 6-4 Mohamed Ibrahim
38. Ben Mertens 4-6 Marco Fu
39. David Grace 6-5 Ryan Davies
40. James Cahill 6-2 Xing Zihao
41. He Guoqiang 6-4 Ross Muir
42. Dominic Dale 6-5 Stan Moody
43. Julien Leclercq 6-5 Peng Yisong
44. Jamie Clarke 6-4 Oliver Sykes
45. Xu Si 6-1 Ma Hailong
46. Dylan Emery 6-2 Robbie McGuigan
47. Jackson Page 4-6 Jiang Jun
48. Zak Surety 6-3 Allan Taylor
Monday, Nov 20
49. Lukas Kleckers 6-3 Rod Lawler
50. Ben Woollaston 6-1 Ryan Thomerson
51. Sanderson Lam 5-6 Andy Lee
52. Mark Joyce 6-5 Iulian Boiko
53. Oliver Lines 6-3 Long Zehuang
54. Ashley Hugill 6-3 Dean Young
55. Tian Pengfei 3-6 Alexander Ursenbacher
56. Ken Doherty 6-3 Duane Jones
57. David Lilley 6-3 Sean O’Sullivan
58. Elliot Slessor 6-1 Louis Heathcote
59. John Astley 1-6 Hammad Miah
60. Liam Highfield 0-6 Ian Burns
61. Mark Davis 6-4 Gao Yang
62. Aaron Hill 2-6 Craig Steadman
63. Scott Donaldson 6-2 Rory Thor
64. Liu Hongyu 5-6 Martin O’Donnell
Round 3 – L80 (bo11)
65. Ding Junhui 6-4 Daniel Wells
66. Matthew Stevens 5-6 Robbie Williams
67. Si Jiahui 5-6 Michael White
68. Fan Zhengyi 6-3 Martin Gould
69. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-2 Andy Hicks
70. Ricky Walden 6-5 Marco Fu
71. Wu Yize 6-2 David Grace
72. Noppon Saengkham 6-5 James Cahill
Tuesday, Nov 21
73. Anthony McGill 6-3 He Guoqiang
74. Anthony Hamilton 6-3 Dominic Dale
75. David Gilbert 6-1 Julien Leclercq
76. Jordan Brown 4-6 Jamie Clarke
77. Lyu Haotian 6-2 Xu Si
78. Matthew Selt 6-4 Dylan Emery
79. Jamie Jones 6-4 Jiang Jun
80. Gary Wilson 3-6 Zak Surety
81. Ryan Day 2-6 Lukas Kleckers
82. Cao Yupeng 4-6 Ben Woollaston
83. Joe Perry 6-2 Andy Lee
84. Xiao Guodong 2-6 Mark Joyce
85. Joe O’Connor 6-5 Oliver Lines
86. Stephen Maguire 6-4 Ashley Hugill
87. Yuan Sijun 6-5 Alexander Ursenbacher
88. Chris Wakelin 4-6 Ken Doherty
89. Stuart Bingham 2-6 David Lilley
90. Graeme Dott 3-6 Elliot Slessor
91. Zhou Yuelong 6-4 Hammad Miah
92. Jak Jones 2-6 Ian Burns
93. Pang Junxu 6-4 Mark Davis
94. Jimmy Robertson 5-6 Craig Steadman
95. Sam Craigie 1-6 Scott Donaldson
96. Hossein Vafaei 6-0 Martin O’Donnell
Round 4 – L48 (bo11)
Wednesday, Nov 22
Ding Junhui 6-3 Robbie Williams
Michael White 5-6 Fan Zhengyi
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-3 Ricky Walden
Wu Yize 4-6 Noppon Saengkham
Anthony McGill 6-2 Anthony Hamilton
David Gilbert 5-6 Jamie Clarke
Lyu Haotian 3-6 Matthew Selt
Jamie Jones 6-4 Zak Surety
Thursday, Nov 23
Lucas Kleckers 1-6 Ben Woollaston
Joe Perry 4-6 Mark Joyce
Joe O’Connor 6-3 Stephen Maguire
Yuan Sijun 6-3 Ken Doherty
7pm UTC
David Lilley 3-6 Elliot Slessor
Zhou Yuelong 6-5 Ian Burns
Pang Junxu 6-2 Craig Steadman
Scott Donaldson 4-6 Hossein Vafaei
Featured photo credit: WST
