UK Championship Snooker 2021 | Day Four Preview and Order of Play

Ronnie O’Sullivan continues his quest for an eighth UK Championship title when he faces Robbie Williams in the second round on Saturday.

Round two of the sport’s second-most prestigious ranking event commences at the York Barbican Centre, with seven of the world’s top 16 players in action.

Seven-time champion O’Sullivan headlines proceedings as he aims to avoid falling at this stage for the second year running.

Indeed, 12 months ago, the Rocket was ousted in the last 64 by Switzerland’s Alexander Ursenbacher, who faces Championship League winner David Gilbert today.

O’Sullivan reached the English Open semi-finals earlier this month and is aiming to end a 15-month wait for ranking event silverware.

The next obstacle he must overcome is world number 68 Williams, who has only progressed beyond this stage of the tournament on one previous occasion – doing so back in 2015.

Elsewhere, having reached the last three finals of this season, three-time champion John Higgins resumes his mission to finally get his hands on a trophy against Sunny Akani, as Northern Ireland Open winner Mark Allen faces Joe O’Connor.

World number five Kyren Wilson – a two-time UK quarter-finalist – takes on Jak Jones, while Masters champion Yan Bingtao looks to continue his strong start to this season against Ben Woollaston.

Former Crucible runner-up Barry Hawkins does not boast a strong record at the UK Championship; his best run seeing him reach the 2013 quarter-finals.

The Hawk plays Gao Yang as fellow left-handers Jack Lisowski and Martin O’Donnell lock horns.

Giant-killers John Astley and Si Jiahui, who defeated Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy in the opening round respectively, look to build on those scalps, with Astley taking on Mark Joyce and Si doing battle with Dominic Dale.

Meanwhile, two-time Crucible runner-up Ali Carter plays Noppon Saengkham as Joe Perry – a two-time UK semi-finalist – goes up against Matthew Selt.

Play gets underway at 1pm GMT on Saturday with all matches contested over the best of 11 frames at the York Barbican Centre.

WATCH UK CHAMPIONSHIP SNOOKER STREAMED LIVE HERE (18+)

UK Championship Snooker 2021 Day Four Schedule

Saturday November 27

Second Round

1pm
73 Kyren Wilson v Jak Jones
74 Wu Yize v Hammad Miah
75 Yan Bingtao v Ben Woollaston
80 Robbie Williams v Ronnie O’Sullivan
82 Joe Perry v Matthew Selt
87 Michael Holt v Andy Hicks
88 Dominic Dale v Si Jiahui
94 Martin O’Donnell v Jack Lisowski

7pm
65 John J Astley v Mark Joyce
76 Gary Wilson v Liam Highfield
77 Noppon Saengkham v Ali Carter
79 Mark King v Gerard Greene
83 Barry Hawkins v Gao Yang
85 Alexander Ursenbacher v David Gilbert
86 Joe O’Connor v Mark Allen
89 John Higgins v Sunny Akani