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UK Championship Snooker 2023 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play

Jonathan Davies in UK Championship

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Ding Junhui dethrones Mark Allen at the UK Championship

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Hossein Vafaei denies Shaun Murphy after fire delay at UK Championship

Luca Brecel reacts (Photo by Zac Goodwin/Alamy/PA Images)

Luca Brecel launches his bid to go one better at the UK Championship when he faces Yuan Sijun in the opening round on Sunday.

The reigning World champion headlines the action on day two at the York Barbican Centre, as he begins his quest to land a second Triple Crown title of the year.

Brecel reached the final here in 2021 and is hoping to go the extra step two years on, though he has struggled to build on the momentum of his Crucible triumph.

Despite reaching the Shanghai Masters final, he is yet to progress beyond the last 16 of any ranking event this season, while he suffered a 4-0 whitewash against Barry Hawkins in the Champion of Champions earlier this month.

Standing in his way is Yuan, who reached the Northern Ireland Open quarter-finals earlier this season and defeated Alexander Ursenbacher and Ken Doherty to qualify for this event.

Elsewhere, former champion Shaun Murphy faces a tough opening test in Hossein Vafaei.

The Magician lifted this trophy 15 years ago, defeating Marco Fu 10-9 in the final at the Telford International Centre.

Murphy, who was also a runner-up in 2012 and 2017, will be wary of Vafaei, though, after the Iranian defeated Mark Selby at this stage 12 months ago.

Elsewhere, two-time semi-finalist Ali Carter looks to continue his promising start to the season against Matthew Selt.

The Captain was runner-up to Judd Trump at the Wuhan Open in October, while he also lifted the German Masters title earlier this year.

The other match on day two sees recently crowned International Championship winner Zhang Anda look to build on his momentum.

The Chinese, who climbed into the world’s top 16 for the first time in his career after his triumph in Tianjin, faces Elliot Slessor.

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

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UK Championship 2023 Day Two Schedule

Sunday November 26

Round One

1pm
Zhang Anda v Elliot Slessor
Luca Brecel v Yuan Sijun

7pm
Shaun Murphy v Hossein Vafaei
Ali Carter v Matthew Selt