The semi-finals for the 2024 UK Championship take place on Saturday with a star-studded lineup of players still on course for glory in York.
Friday’s quarter-finals didn’t produce the same level of drama as the round before, where five out of the eight second-round fixtures required deciding frames.
However, the last four at the Barbican Centre comprises four proven champions of the sport and three former winners of Triple Crown events.
Let’s take a look at both semi-finals in the 2024 UK Championship draw.
Barry Hawkins vs Mark Allen
Mark Allen is defending the ranking points that he earned by capturing his maiden UK Championship title two years ago.
So far so good for the Pistol this week as he mounts another challenge in what is the season’s opening Triple Crown tournament.
Allen reversed a 3-1 deficit to Jack Lisowski in the quarter-finals, reeling off the remaining five frames after the mid-session interval to win 6-3.
The Northern Irishman will face Barry Hawkins next, the latter having also produced a strong finish to dispatch of 2008 UK champion Shaun Murphy.
From 2-2 in their last-eight contest, Hawkins played practically no-miss snooker and raced to the winning line by taking the concluding four frames.
The Hawk has already guaranteed his spot at the prestigious Masters invitational in January by reaching this point of the competition.
But the 45 year-old will have his sights now firmly set on finally breaking his duck at a major Triple Crown event.
Four-time ranking event winner Hawkins boasts an inferior head-to-head record against Allen but has beaten the world number three the last two times they’ve played, including at the Xi’an Grand Prix in the summer.
Judd Trump vs Kyren Wilson
It doesn’t get much bigger these days on the World Snooker Tour than a tie between Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson.
The world numbers one and two will clash at the Barbican Centre on Saturday afternoon with a spot in Sunday’s UK Championship final on the line.
The pair’s rivalry dates all the way back to the 2015 Shanghai Masters final when Wilson – then a lowly qualifier – stunned Trump to capture a maiden ranking crown.
Trump enjoyed the upper hand for many years after that, but recently it’s been Wilson who has dominated their highest-profile affairs.
Indeed, boosted by the confidence gained from landing his first world title in May, the Kettering cueist has pipped Trump to glory in two ranking event finals this term.
Wilson edged his fellow Englishman 10-8 at the Xi’an Grand Prix before thrashing Trump 9-3 to win the Northern Ireland Open title as well.
The duo reached the 2024 UK Championship semi-finals with victories over Michael Holt and Zhang Anda respectively.
Trump was especially impressive during his outing with Zhang, compiling four century breaks and accumulating an unanswered sequence of 527 points.
If they can replicate their best again, it promises to be a barnstorming UK Championship affair.
2024 UK Championship draw and schedule
Round 1 (bo11)
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-6 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 4-6 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Zhao Xintong
Ding Junhui 6-5 Robert Milkins
Mark Selby 4-6 Jack Lisowski
Ali Carter 6-4 Ryan Day
Si Jiahui 4-6 Wu Yize
Mark Allen 6-4 Jackson Page
Judd Trump 6-3 Neil Robertson
John Higgins 6-0 He Guoqiang
Zhang Anda 6-3 Lei Peifan
Mark Williams 5-6 Stuart Bingham
Luca Brecel 5-6 Jak Jones
Gary Wilson 1-6 Michael Holt
Chris Wakelin 6-4 Matthew Selt
Kyren Wilson 6-0 Stephen Maguire
Round 2 (bo11)
Barry Hawkins 6-5 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Ding Junhui
Jack Lisowski 6-4 Ali Carter
Wu Yize 4-6 Mark Allen
Judd Trump 6-5 John Higgins
Zhang Anda 6-5 Stuart Bingham
Jak Jones 5-6 Michael Holt
Chris Wakelin 2-6 Kyren Wilson
Quarter-Finals (bo11)
Barry Hawkins 6-2 Shaun Murphy
Jack Lisowski 3-6 Mark Allen
Judd Trump 6-2 Zhang Anda
Michael Holt 3-6 Kyren Wilson
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Times in UTC
Barry Hawkins vs Mark Allen
Saturday, Nov. 30th – 7pm
Judd Trump vs Kyren Wilson
Saturday, Nov. 30th – 1pm
Final (bo19)
The match will take place on Sunday, Dec 1.
Featured photo credit: WST
