MARK Allen will begin the defence of his UK Championship title tomorrow against the man he beat in last year’s final, Ding Junhui.
The Antrim man was a 10-7 winner when the pair met in that decider and after winning the Champion of Champions in Bolton last week, he will be favourite for a repeat.
Ken Doherty fell at the final qualifying hurdle for the Mr Q-sponsored event on Thursday, beaten 6-3 by China’s Yuan Sijun.
The Dubliner had taken a 2-1 lead but lost four in a row to trail 5-2, and although he kept the match alive by winning frame eight, Sijun closed it out in the next.
Round one draw (matches best of 11 frames, beginning Saturday)
Mark Allen v Ding Junhui
Tom Ford v Noppon Saengkham
Mark Williams v Fan Zhengyi
Kyren Wilson v Jamie Clarke
Mark Selby v Mark Joyce
Barry Hawkins v Ben Woollaston
Jack Lisowski v Jamie Jones
Judd Trump v Pang Junxu
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Anthony McGill
Robert Milkins v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
John Higgins v Joe O'Connor
Neil Robertson v Zhou Yuelong
Shaun Murphy v Hossein Vafaei
Ali Carter v Matthew Selt
Zhang Anda v Elliot Slessor
Luca Brecel v Yuan Sijun
