The draw for the First Round of the 2010 World Snooker Championships has been made this morning, and it has, as usual, thrown up a couple of intriguing ties, including a clash of two of the game’s most attacking players, and the meeting of snooker’s most successful ever player against a Crucible debutant.
At the bottom of the bracket, three-time Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has been drawn against Liang Wenbo, who had a superb and unexpected run to the 2008 Quarter Finals but fell to compatriot Ding Junhui in the First Round last year. The bottom half of the draw also sees debutant Anda Zhang face Stephen Hendry in what will undoubtedly be a great occasion for the diminutive teenager. Elsewhere, Ken Doherty returns after missing out in 2009 but has a hard task against Mark Selby, whilst defending champion John Higgins will square off against Barry Hawkins.
The draw in full:
John Higgins v Barry Hawkins
Mark King v Steve Davis
Neil Robertson v Fergal O’Brien
Marco Fu v Martin Gould
Ali Carter v Jamie Cope
Joe Perry v Michael Holt
Ding Junhui v Stuart Pettman
Shaun Murphy v Gerard Greene
Stephen Maguire v Stephen Lee
Peter Ebdon v Graeme Dott
Mark Allen v Tom Ford
Ryan Day v Mark Davis
Mark Selby v Ken Doherty
Stephen Hendry v Zhang Anda
Mark Williams v Marcus Campbell
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Liang Wenbo
More on this throughout the day.