2024 UK Championship Snooker Final Preview: Barry Hawkins v Judd Trump

The best-of-19 frames title decider will be played across afternoon (13:00GMT start) and evening (19:00GMT) sessions.

World number one Trump is aiming for his second UK crown, 13 years on from initially lifting the trophy at this venue. The 35-year-old is going for a fifth Triple Crown event title and career ranking title number 30, which would put him one behind John Higgins who is third on the all-time list of the most decorated ranking winners.

Trump has already enjoyed a very successful season. He won the invitational Shanghai Masters and the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters; went back to world number one and became the third player in history to compile 1,000 century breaks in professional competition.

Along with two other ranking event final appearances (Xi'an Grand Prix, Northern Ireland Open), reaching the final in York means he has already surpassed over £1 million in prize money for this 2024/25 campaign.

Getting to his fourth UK final has been far from straightforward, though. He endured very slow starts to his opening two rounds where he eventually saw off Neil Robertson 6-3 and John Higgins 6-5. In the quarter-finals, however, Trump was sensational with a 6-2 victory over Zhang Anda, compiling four century breaks - three of which were in consecutive frames - and at one point amassing 527 unanswered points.

In the semi-finals Trump faced reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson and went 2-0 down. However, he strung together the next six frames - helped by two tons - for a 6-2 passage through.

Hawkins began this tournament as the world number 20, and therefore had to navigate two qualifying rounds at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester. He was then drawn to play the defending, record eight-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the opening session in York, where he came from 4-2 down to stun the title holder, 6-4.

Four-time ranking event winner Hawkins - one of the best players ever without a Triple Crown accolade - then squeezed past David Gilbert 6-5, won the final four frames to eliminate Shaun Murphy 6-2, and came through a five-hour, near 1am semi-final finish against Mark Allen, who he pipped on the colours for an exhausting and dramatic 6-5 victory.

His results here this week already mean that Hawkins will return to the world's elite top 16 following this tournament, regardless of the outcome of the final. This guarantees him a ticket to the Masters at the Alexandra Palace in January - an event he has twice been runner-up in.

A World Championship finalist in 2013, 45-year-old Hawkins has just several hours to prepare for the fourth Triple Crown final outing of his career. Hawkins has already dismissed three UK Champions en route to the final (O'Sullivan, Murphy, Allen), and if he can see off a fourth, he will become one himself.

In terms of their head-to-head record - if you include all professional formats - Trump leads 19-13 overall and has won their last four fixtures. Their most recent tie came at the last 16 stage of the Northern Ireland Open in October where Trump scored a 4-1 victory.

However, Hawkins has recorded several big wins over Trump in the past. The only previous time they met in an event final was at the 2023 European Masters in Germany; Hawkins raised his fourth ranking trophy with a 9-6 triumph.

They have played each other four times at the Masters, and notched up two wins apiece. Three of those matches were 6-5, and the other was 6-4.

We could be in for yet another very close encounter on Sunday.

For full details on the 2024 UK Championship, including the draw, results, prize money breakdown, format and how to watch, please visit our tournament information centre here.