When does Ronnie O'Sullivan play at the 2025 UK Snooker Championship and who is his opponent?

O'Sullivan is aiming for a record-extending ninth UK crown - the second-most prestigious ranking accolade in the sport. 'The Rocket' sits two titles ahead of six-time UK Champion Steve Davis on the all-time list, and three ahead of five-time victor Stephen Hendry.

The Englishman - who is set to turn 50 during the Triple Crown event - is already the youngest and oldest UK Champion in history, an impressive stat that highlights his longevity within the top echelons.

In 1993, a 17-year-old O'Sullivan defeated world number one and world champion Hendry 10-6 in the final to win the trophy, becoming snooker's youngest-ever ranking event champion, a record he still holds today.

Further glories in the event arrived in 1997, 2001, 2007, 2014, 2017 and 2018, before a 10-7 victory over Ding Junhui in the final of the 2023 edition made it a great eight and confirmed him as the most senior champ in the tournament's long history.

His back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018 make him the only player this century (so far) to have successfully defended the title.

Who is Ronnie O'Sullivan playing in York?

Seven-time world champion O'Sullivan travels to York this year as the number six seed, therefore he went straight through to the 32-player main draw. He has been handed a tricky first round tie against world number 29 Zhou, who won two qualifying matches in Wigan to reach the televised stages.

After a quiet 18 months on the circuit, former World Cup winner for China Zhou has had a reenergising few months during which he made the final of the English Open, and the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open. He was denied his first ranking trophy by Mark Allen in a deciding frame in Brentwood.

The head-to-head record does not make pretty reading for Zhou, as O'Sullivan has won all seven of their previous encounters on the sport's top-flight. Three of those meetings came at the UK Championship, and they were particularly painful in different ways.

O'Sullivan whitewashed Zhou 6-0 in the last 32 of the 2018 staging, and repeated that clean sweep scoreline in 2022 at the last 16 stage.

However, in the 2023 quarter-finals, not only did Zhou get a foothold in the match but threatened to finally get the better of his opponent, having won four consecutive frames from 4-1 down to lead 5-4.

In the end, though, it was O'Sullivan who went through after he produced breaks of 77 and 122 in the final two frames for a 6-5 victory.

Should O'Sullivan navigate his opening assignment at the Barbican, he would face either Mark Selby or Lei Peifan in the last 16 of the £1.2 million event.

World number two Kyren Wilson and last year's UK Championship runner-up Barry Hawkins are also in O'Sullivan's quarter of the draw, while fellow seeds John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, Gary Wilson and reigning world champion Zhao Xintong are elsewhere in this bottom half.

What is Ronnie O'Sullivan's current form coming into the 2025 UK Championship?

O'Sullivan's results over the past 18 months have been inconsistent.

The last time he won a trophy on the professional circuit was at the Riyadh Season Championship (back then called the World Masters of Snooker) in March 2024, although his last ranking title came in January 2024 at the World Grand Prix.

Last season O'Sullivan failed to appear in a final of any description, although he did make several semi-finals, including at the World Championship where he bowed out to eventual winner Zhao.

However, he didn't play competitively for over three months at the start of the calendar year due to smashing up his cue.

This season, O'Sullivan has played in five tournaments on the World Snooker Tour, all of them coming in either China or Saudi Arabia.

At the Saudi Arabia Masters in mid-August, the record 41-time ranking event winner battled through some earlier matches to make the semis where he produced history by compiling two 147 breaks within the same session of a match. He went on to defeat Chris Wakelin for a spot in the final.

In the showpiece fixture, despite having recovered from 7-2 down to lead 9-8, O'Sullivan was denied the £500,000 top prize by Neil Robertson in a deciding frame.

O’Sullivan’s last outing before the UK Championship was at the Riyadh Season Championship where he was whitewashed 4-0 by Murphy in his first match.

To view the full draw, results, match schedule, and other information from the 2025 UK Championship, visit here.