Pickering's Paul Davison ready for Sunday shoot-out against Ben Woollaston at the Barbican

Buoyed by a first-round victory over Gary Wilson, Davison meets last year's Welsh Open finalist in the last 64 of the competition at York Barbican.

The pair have met on four previous occasions, with Woollaston winning three of the four – including their last meeting at the 2013 Betfair Snooker Shoot-Out in Blackpool Tower.

Davison said: "It should be a good game. He is a great player, a good scorer with a good temperament, and we are also good mates off the table."

Woollaston, 29, hails from Leicester and is married to one of the tournament referees, Tatiana Torchilo, who is originally from Belarus. Naturally, she is not allowed to officiate games involving her husband!

Davison, who is currently ranked number 95 in the world, bagged £5,000 for his first-round victory over Wilson and the same amount is on offer for reaching the third round, where the winner plays former world champion John Higgins or Thailand's Noppon Saengkham.

"I might have a few supporters with the game on a Sunday afternoon," he said. "It would be nice to win and set up a rematch with Higgins, who beat me in the Northern Ireland Open this month."

Woollaston progressed to the second round after a marathon 6-5 victory over Elliott Slessor in the first round. The game started on Wednesday morning but had to be continued at 5-5 on Wednesday night because the session had taken so long.

"That was my first time it had happened to me," he said. "I didn't know what to do and I was hanging around all day. But I wouldn't have minded playing here until three in the morning as long as I had won."

Davison, meanwhile, has congratulated Leeds-based player Peter Lines for knocking out defending champion Neil Robertson on Thursday night.

The pair have practised together in the past at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.

Lines, 46, plays as an amateur after dropping off the World Snooker tour at the end of last season.

He described his 6-3 victory over Robertson as the 'most pleasing of his career' and added: "It was a daunting task but I just wanted to relax and at least give a good account of myself.

"In my heart, I wasn't expecting to win, but I played well and I am really pleased with how I held myself together because Neil is a fantastic player."

After a rest day yesterday, the second-round games start at 1pm today along with the first live coverage of the week by BBC television.

Among the highlights of the first session are Mark Selby's clash with Daniel Wells and the game between former world champion Graeme Dott and Dominic Dale.

In 2006, Dott, now 39, won the world title at the Crucible and also reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship in York.

The former world number two has suffered from clinical depression in recent years, however, and slipped down the rankings.

He says victories for amateurs – such as Lines – are no longer a big surprise.

Dott said: "In the World Championship I played an amateur, Brandon Sargeant, and I don't think he had ever played anywhere near as well as he did that day.

"Its just one of those things that's happening. We don't have any easy games now and it's certainly a lot harder than it was years ago."

Ironically, Dott thinks the quality among the game's 'elite' is worse than ten years ago when he won the World Championship.

"Personally, I don't think the top of the game is as good as it was," he shrugged.

"When you had O'Sullivan, Higgins, Williams and Hendry it was a better top four than it is now but, lower down, it's ridiculous how good it is. It (the standard) is a lot higher than it was then."

Dott, now ranked number 28 in the world, hopes his first-round victory against Ian Preece will trigger an upturn in his fortunes.

"I have been a pro for 24 years and never been through a spell where people don't seem to miss a ball when I play them," he said.

"On the one hand, I am losing a lot of matches, but on the other hand, I am not doing a lot to lose them.

"It's hard to beat yourself up when losing against players who messed up one ball in four games. These players are top of their game and they have not missed, so it's hard to judge my form.

"I have been saying this for the past couple of months but, hopefully, that win has broke it up. My form is really hard to work out. I was solid but nothing great."

Tournament sponsors Betway, meanwhile, have launched 'Crazy Snooker' featuring Neil Robertson and Mark Selby. The game is available to play in the Barbican's Cue Zone from Saturday until December 4.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hccdMmIBWqs

Betway are also offering snooker fans the opportunity to win prizes in an interactive snooker quiz game called Baize of Glory. To find out more visit blog.betway.com.