Neil Robertson will play world primary Judd Trump within the first spherical of the UK Championship after advancing previous Matthew Stevens 6-2 within the remaining qualifier in Leicester.
Their encounter will likely be a repeat of their epic 2020 remaining, received by the Australian, who additionally obtained the higher of the Englishman earlier this month on the Champion of Champions.
Robertson, who has received all three of snooker’s Triple crown occasions, opened with an excellent break of 136 in opposition to the 2003 winner Stevens, who levelled at 1-1.
Nevertheless, Robertson then took the following three, together with the pivotal fourth body, which the Welshman had appeared on the right track to win, earlier than sealing the victory.
The 42-year-old’s assembly with Trump is arguably the tie of spherical one regardless of there being a number of different mouthwatering encounters to kick off the televised phases.
Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and Barry Hawkins will reprise their conferences from the World Championship and Masters finals of 2013 and 2016.
Zhao Xintong, who received the match in 2021, will face former world champion Shaun Murphy, after coming back from a ban for his involvement in snooker’s largest match-fixing scandal.
Jack Lisowski, who ended the qualifying run of ladies’s world champion Bai Yulu, has been drawn to face Mark Selby, with Champion of Champions winner Mark Williams taking over a fellow former Crucible winner in Stuart Bingham.