Barry Hawkins drew Ronnie O'Sullivan but avoided the one player he didn't want at UK Championship

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Barry Hawkins has been handed an extremely tough draw at the UK Championship in Ronnie O’Sullivan, but the only man he really wanted to avoid was Mark Selby.

In a blockbuster opening round tie in York, the Hawk will face the Rocket in a repeat of the 2013 World Championship final.

O’Sullivan is the defending champion and one of the favourites to lift the trophy once again, but it is a tricky first test for him against the four-time ranking event winner.

Hawkins may have been hoping for a slightly lest testing draw, but he will be glad not to have been given his good friend Selby.

The pair played each other in the second round in York last year while they were sharing an apartment in the city.

The pals played the game in a great spirit, but Hawkins admits it was pretty awkward beforehand and a defeat in the decider on the pink still stung, despite facing his friend.

‘I don't want to play Mark. I don't want to draw him,’ said Hawkins before Thursday’s draw. ‘They're all be tough, you've got to play well, but as long as I don't get Mark because we'll probably share an apartment, we don't want to draw each other really, not in the first round.

‘We had it last year and he beat me on the pink, the lucky git.

‘We were sharing an apartment so that was a bit awkward all day. We just locked ourselves away, he went in his bedroom, I was in the front room, didn't want to talk to each other all day. It wasn't very nice, so hopefully not that again.’

Hawkins has spent many years in the top 16 but has slipped to number 20 so had to come through qualifying to make it to the Barbican.

The 45-year-old did so pretty handily, beating Alfie Burden and Wang Yuchen and he joins a very impressive group of qualifiers which includes the likes of Neil Robertson, Stephen Maguire, Jack Lisowski, Stuart Bingham and Zhao Xintong.

‘They're all top 16 players!’ Hawkins said of the qualifiers. ‘There's just not enough spaces and we're knocking each other out.

‘How the hell is Neil not in the top 16? The standard in that bracket has gone through the roof. The top 32 is like the old top 16 now. The standard is a joke.’

Hawkins has had a solid, if unspectacular, season so far but he feels his form is ‘bubbling’ nicely and he feels a deep run coming soon, despite the relentlessly tough standard.

‘It is getting tougher and tougher, there's so many young good players,’ he said. ‘A lot of the Chinese lads come through and can pot balls from anywhere.

‘They’re scary players and as you're getting older, you've got battle scars and you start thinking, "if I miss this it's game over" and bad thoughts creep in from losing matches over the years. But I keep pushing, keep trying hard and as long as I'm playing alright I'll keep going.

‘I've had some tough draws, come up against people who have gone on to win the tournament. I don't think I've done that much wrong, maybe I've not put them under pressure enough, there's always things to work on, but if I keep getting to them positions I can eventually click into gear and I can go on to win a tournament.

‘I feel like I'm bubbling, my game's there, I just need to get a little bit more consistent. I feel like it's there.’

O’Sullivan and Hawkins will open the show in York on Saturday at 1pm.