2024 UK Snooker Championship: Round one schedule, Ronnie O'Sullivan in opening session

The world's top 16 players are all seeded through to the main venue stages of the 2024 UK Championship - the World Snooker Tour’s opening Triple Crown event of the season - and will be randomly drawn against one of the 16 qualifiers who emerge from the preliminaries in Leicester a few days before in round one.

Two tables will be operation in York for up to and including the quarter-finals.

Record eight-time UK Snooker Champion O'Sullivan will play his opener from 1pm (13:00GMT) on Saturday 23rd November. Number nine seed Shaun Murphy will also play in the same session on the other table.

The first round takes place over four days at the Barbican, with a quarter of the 32-player draw completed each day.

Recent International Championship title winner Ding Junhui and new top 16 star Xiao Guodong feature on Saturday night.

Mark Allen - champion here two years ago - stars on Sunday (24th November) afternoon alongside fellow seed Ali Carter, while two-time UK winner Mark Selby and Si Jiahui - Si is a seed in this tournament for the first time - are on the baize for the evening programme.

Reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson is looking to join an elite club of winning World and UK titles in the same calendar year, and he gets that challenge underway on Monday (25th November) afternoon. Chris Wakelin (afternoon session) - new to the top 16 - Luca Brecel, and Gary Wilson (both evening session) are also on Monday's menu in Yorkshire.

The final batch of round one matches take place on Tuesday (26th November), as world number one Judd Trump - whose sole UK Championship title triumph came here 13 years ago - is in action in the afternoon. In the same session is three-time champion John Higgins, who last tasted UK success in 2010.

The second and most recent of Mark Williams' UK crowns came 22 years ago in 2002. It would be quite some story if the 49-year-old could make it a hat-trick.

Williams and Zhang Anda are the final seeds to begin their campaigns, as they are penned down for Tuesday evening's timetable.

Round two (last 16) will be played across Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th November, with the quarter-finals completed on Friday 29th November.

There will be one table for semi-finals Saturday (30th), and the title match - where the winner pockets the £250,000 top prize - takes place on Sunday 1st December.

Schedule for the round one matches at the 2024 UK Snooker Championship:

Saturday 23rd November

Afternoon Session (13:00GMT start)

• Ronnie O'Sullivan v Barry Hawkins
• Shaun Murphy v Zhao Xintong

Evening Session (19:00GMT start)

• Ding Junhui v Robert Milkins
• Xiao Guodong v David Gilbert

Sunday 24th November

Afternoon Session (13:00GMT start)

• Mark Allen v Jackson Page
• Ali Carter v Ryan Day

Evening Session (19:00GMT start)

• Mark Selby v Jack Lisowski
• Si Jiahui v Wu Yize

Monday 25th November

Afternoon Session (13:00GMT start)

• Kyren Wilson v Stephen Maguire
• Chris Wakelin v Matthew Selt

Evening Session (19:00 start)

• Luca Brecel v Jak Jones
• Gary Wilson v Michael Holt

Tuesday 26th November

Afternoon Session (13:00GMT start)

• Judd Trump v Neil Robertson
• John Higgins v He Guoqiang

Evening Session (19:00GMT start)

• Mark Williams v Stuart Bingham
• Zhang Anda v Lei Peifan

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.