2024 UK Snooker Championship Quarter-Finals: Matches, schedule, preview

Following the close of play, just four cueists will remain on course for the first Triple Crown title of the season and the £250,000 top prize. We preview the matches on show, below:

Seeding positions in brackets, Q stands for qualifier

Barry Hawkins (Q) vs. Shaun Murphy (9) - Friday afternoon 13:00GMT

2008 UK Champion Murphy has survived back-to-back deciding frame finishes against Chinese opposition in the first two rounds, ousting fellow former champions Zhao Xintong then Ding Junhui.

Prior to this event, Murphy had won just three matches in his last six appearances at the UK Championship. He is on course to end a near ten-year wait for another Triple Crown trophy.

Four-time ranking event winner Hawkins is one of the best players, ever, who hasn't won a Triple Crown title. Fans of 'The Hawk' will be feeling optimistic this week, having won four ties to get here, a run which has included the elimination of reigning champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Murphy leads their overall career head-to-head record, although Hawkins has won four out of their five meetings at Triple Crown events.

Jack Lisowski (Q) vs. Mark Allen (4) - Friday evening 19:00GMT

This match is a rerun of their memorable semi-final clash here two years ago when Allen pipped Lisowski on the final black in the deciding frame.

Their head-to-head record is a very interesting one; if you include all professional formats, Lisowski leads 6-5, although Allen has won four of their last five.

Former world number one Allen - champion here two years ago - was under par as he laboured to a 6-4 first round victory over Jackson Page, but was brilliant during a four-frame burst in his last 16 6-4 win over Wu Yize, recovering from 4-2 down.

Qualifier Lisowski produced one of his best performances on television as he dismissed Mark Selby 6-4 in his first tie in York and followed that up with an impressive 6-4 success against Ali Carter.

Arguably the best player on tour without a ranking event title, Lisowski has now made at least the quarter-finals from four of the last five UK Championship editions.

Judd Trump (3) v Zhang Anda (11) - Friday afternoon 13:00GMT

Both Trump and Zhang have already had very eventful weeks in York.

Zhang made his third career maximum 147 break in professional competition during his 6-3 opening round win over fellow Chinese cueist Lei Peifan. In the last 16, he produced the biggest comeback of the tournament, so far, as he recovered from 5-1 down to stun Stuart Bingham, 6-5.

World number one Trump - champion here in 2011 - had to deal with two career Triple Crown winners in the opening two rounds, turning around slow starts in both matches.

'The Ace in the Pack' won five frames in-a-row when seeing off Neil Robertson, 6-3, before emerging through a deciding frame finish against John Higgins in the last 16. In that final frame, Trump trailed by 34 points but compiled a break of 106 for a 6-5 victory.

In the head-to-head stats, Trump leads, with their most memorable encounter coming at last year's English Open when he came back from 7-3 down to win 9-7. However, Zhang bested their most recent fixture in the Scottish Open last December.

Michael Holt (Q) v Kyren Wilson (2) - Friday evening 19:00GMT

Two players who have had very contrasting journeys to the quarter-finals here in York.

Reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson has yet to hit very top form at the Barbican Centre, although he has barely broken sweat having relinquished just two frames so far in his opening two matches after wins over Stephen Maguire (6-0) and Chris Wakelin (6-2).

In comparison, world number 98 Holt has come from the very first qualifying round in Leicester, winning six consecutive matches to appear in his second UK Championship quarter-final - 25 years on from his first in 1999.

This time last year, Holt was an amateur on the Q Tour. He is now in the last eight of professional snooker’s second biggest ranking event. At the main venue this week, Holt dispatched number 10 seed Gary Wilson 6-1 and then produced a big comeback from 5-2 down to overturn world number 17 and recent Crucible finalist Jak Jones, 6-5.

Wilson is ahead by a few in the overall head-to-head count, and won their last meeting on the pro circuit in 2020.

On the way to his maiden ranking title at the Shanghai Masters in 2015, Wilson defeated Holt in the last 16, but the following year at the same event, Holt dethroned the defending champion in the last 32.

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.