It will be an all-English final between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins as the 2024 UK Championship concludes on Sunday in York.
Having manoeuvred their way through the rounds this week, the duo will next vie for the ยฃ250,000 top prize and the season’s opening Triple Crown title.
For Trump, the 35 year-old is hoping to add a fifth such title to his collection and silence his critics who believe that he doesn’t perform frequently enough in major tournaments.
The world number one fought his way back from 2-0 behind to beat rival Kyren Wilson 6-2 in Saturday’s opening semi-final affair, scoring two tons in the process.
Victory avenges painful defeats to his countryman in the title-deciding matches at the Xi’an Grand Prix and the Northern Ireland Open this term.
But Trump, who first captured the UK Championship crown 13 years ago, will only be truly satisfied if he can proceed to etch his name onto silverware again.
Against Hawkins, he comes up against a formidable competitor who is bidding to get his hands on a Triple Crown trophy for the first time.
By reaching the UK Championship final, Hawkins will complete the set of having appeared in all three of the traditional majors’ finals.
The 45 year-old lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan at the 2013 World Championship final, and again to O’Sullivan and to Neil Robertson in finals of the Masters.
It won’t get much easier when Hawkins faces Trump, and it won’t have helped that his dramatic 6-5 semi-final success over Mark Allen ended past midnight on Saturday night.
Hawkins, though, must feel that this may be his last realistic hope of engraving his name into the history of the sport as a major winner.
By performing so well at the Barbican Centre, the four-time ranking event winner has already guaranteed a return to the Alexandra Palace next month for the 2025 Masters.
His full focus, therefore, can be on taking down a player who has represented a relentless presence at the business end of tournaments all year.
Trump has already won the Shanghai Masters and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters titles while eclipsing ยฃ1 million in prize money during this campaign.
But the 2019 world champion would certainly love to land another one of the big three on home soil.
One shy of making it 30 career ranking titles, Trump boasts a superior 19-13 head-to-head record against Hawkins from their prior battles in all competitions.
That includes winning the last four times they’ve faced off against one another on the World Snooker Tour.
Interestingly, though, their one previous final went the way of Hawkins, who overcame Trump with a 9-6 scoreline to win last year’s European Masters crown.
Hawkins has also enjoyed positive results over Trump in big events like the Masters and the Tour Championship in the past.
It would be foolish to discount a player of the Hawk’s quality and experience, but it would also be absurd to suggest that anyone other than Trump is the favourite for glory.
Whether the latter can live up to that tag, and bolster his status as an all-time great of the game, is what many will be tuning in to find out.
The 2024 UK Championship final takes place on Sunday, December 1st at 1pm and 7pm UTC.
2024 UK Championship draw and schedule
Round 1 (bo11)
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-6 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 4-6 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Zhao Xintong
Ding Junhui 6-5 Robert Milkins
Mark Selby 4-6 Jack Lisowski
Ali Carter 6-4 Ryan Day
Si Jiahui 4-6 Wu Yize
Mark Allen 6-4 Jackson Page
Judd Trump 6-3 Neil Robertson
John Higgins 6-0 He Guoqiang
Zhang Anda 6-3 Lei Peifan
Mark Williams 5-6 Stuart Bingham
Luca Brecel 5-6 Jak Jones
Gary Wilson 1-6 Michael Holt
Chris Wakelin 6-4 Matthew Selt
Kyren Wilson 6-0 Stephen Maguire
Round 2 (bo11)
Barry Hawkins 6-5 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Ding Junhui
Jack Lisowski 6-4 Ali Carter
Wu Yize 4-6 Mark Allen
Judd Trump 6-5 John Higgins
Zhang Anda 6-5 Stuart Bingham
Jak Jones 5-6 Michael Holt
Chris Wakelin 2-6 Kyren Wilson
Quarter-Finals (bo11)
Barry Hawkins 6-2 Shaun Murphy
Jack Lisowski 3-6 Mark Allen
Judd Trump 6-2 Zhang Anda
Michael Holt 3-6 Kyren Wilson
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Barry Hawkins 6-5 Mark Allen
Judd Trump 6-2 Kyren Wilson
Final (bo19)
Barry Hawkins 8-10 Judd Trump
Featured photo credit: WST
I hope Barry can win or at the very least force Trump to produce a top class display to beat him. The exertions of his semi with Allen give me cause for concern and how he’s played in some massive finals in the past.
On paper Hawkins’ win against Allen makes yesterday afternoons semifinal between the world number 1 and the world champion even more likely to be the real final of this UK Championship. However Hawkins has played well this week and deserves his final appearance, and Trump hasn’t played infallibly well in most of his matches, it’s just that he’s played very well at some stage of all his matches! Trump is the heavy favourite but if he starts poorly, as he has in a couple of his games, I think that Barry Hawkins could build a leading position and then Trump will really have to play well. I don’t feel that Hawkins will fold under the pressure of a major final against the current best player in the world today.
Taking out the Championship League matches leaves the h2h tighter – Trump leading 11-8. This is their first meeting in a Triple Crown event that’s not the Masters.
Trump appearing in a ninth Triple Crown final. Hawkins into a fourth.
Hawkins becomes the 18th player to reach all three Triple Crown finals. 11 have won all three events.
Trump is taking part in his 48th ranking final.