Snooker stars Reanne Evans and Mark Allen will face each other over the green baize while locked in a child maintenance row.
Reanne has been drawn against her ex-boyfriend Mark, the father of her teenage daughter, in the first round of the British Open.
The pair, both 35, will clash at the tournament in Leicester next month.
The couple split in 2008 but Reanne, a 12-time women’s world champion, has asked the courts for increased maintenance payments from Mark.
Jason Ferguson, chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said both players had previously “provided reassurances that should they meet in a tournament, they would conduct themselves professionally and treat the opponent like any other player”.
But at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield in April, Northern Irish Mark, who is ranked 12th in the world, had his ex removed from the practice area, claiming she was distracting him.
Reanne, from Dudley, West Midlands, was just about to appear on the BBC as a pundit but World Snooker Tour officials accepted Mark’s demand and Reanne – who is regarded as the greatest ever female snooker player – left the area for 10 minutes.
A spokesman for the BBC said at the time: “For the sake of 10 minutes, Reanne left the practice room so Mark Allen could practise before his match without distraction upon his request.”
Mark later attempted to play down the episode. He said: “There have been several cases of players asking for people to be removed when they’re practising ahead of a match.”
But Reanne told how she had been left “upset and embarrassed” by the episode.
Mark is also currently going through the courts to divorce his estranged wife, Kyla McGuigan.
He recently declared himself bankrupt, despite his career earnings from snooker reaching more than £3million.
Earlier this year, Reanne and Hong Kong’s Ng On-yee – the sport’s two top female stars – were offered two-year tour cards to play regularly against the men on the professional circuit.
The tournament, starting on August 16 at the Morningside Arena, will also see Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy play in a rematch of their World Championship final from May.
