KYREN WILSON insists that he is under no pressure heading into Friday's UK Championship quarter-final against Ronnie O’Sullivan at the York Barbican.

In a replay of the 2020 World Championship final, the tournament’s two favourites and highest remaining seeds, O’Sullivan and Wilson will face off for a semi-final place, starting at 1pm.

Despite himself chasing a first Triple Crown title, Wilson believes that the pressure is on the record seven-time UK champion O’Sullivan.

“I’m under no pressure whatsoever," said Wilson, pictured (Martin Rickett/PA Wire). "I’m the young pretender trying to get there, Ronnie has been there and done it all."

Reacting to pre-tournament favourite Judd Trump’s comments that the event is now indeed O’Sullivan’s to lose, Wilson replied: “To a certain extent, you’d have to say that.

“Being a seven-time champion of this tournament, he knows what it takes to win this event.

“I’m not there yet, I haven’t won the tournaments, I don’t know what it feels like and I don’t know what it takes to do that.

“I believe in my ability and I know what I’m capable of. I’ve beaten Ronnie in some big matches before, so I know what it takes to beat Ronnie.

“I think there’s a little bit of needle between those two (O’Sullivan and Trump), so (Trump) is probably trying to put the pressure on (O’Sullivan). That’s how it goes sometimes.”

Should Wilson prevail against O’Sullivan, he would likely become the clear favourite to end the week as UK champion, given he is the only remaining top-10 player.

The opportunity presenting itself to Wilson at this event is not lost on him.

“There’s probably no getting away from the fact that there is a slight opportunity here,” he said.

“But I always feel like there’s an opportunity in any tournament for myself, if I turn up and I produce my best against the very best, I give myself a chance.

“But in the practice room, you’ve got the likes of Jack Lisowski and Anthony McGill. You can’t take those lightly.”

Wilson added that winning one of snooker’s three major prizes would fulfil a childhood dream.

“It would be absolutely awesome,” he admitted. “I’ve been playing this game since I was six years old and you dream of lifting titles like the UK, the Masters and the Worlds.

“I’ve gone very close in the previous two, so it’s nice to notch up the results in this tournament because previously my results in the UK Championship weren’t too good.”