Following the confirmation of the seedings list to be used for the World Championship, World Snooker have now revealed the order of play for the venue stages at the Crucible Theatre.
For those of your with tickets in particular, click below to see who you will be watching and when…
In years gone by, prior to the advent of rolling rankings, fans have known long in advance which players they were booking to see at the World Championship.
These days however, tickets are bought the best part of a year before the tournament and only now following the completion of the Players Championship Grand Finals can we see where the seeds slot into the draw and in particular, when they will be playing.
The schedule for the first round looks like this:
Saturday 19th April 2014:
10:00am
Ronnie O’Sullivan v qualifier
Stuart Bingham v qualifier
2:30pm
Shaun Murphy v qualifier
Stephen Maguire v qualifier
7:00pm
Ali Carter v qualifier
Ronnie O’Sullivan v qualifier*
Sunday 20th April 2014:
10:00am
Joe Perry v qualifier
Stuart Bingham v qualifier*
2:30pm
Ding Junhui v qualifier
Ali Carter v qualifier*
7:00pm
Shaun Murphy v qualifier*
Stephen Maguire v qualifier*
Monday 21st April 2014:
10:00am
Joe Perry v qualifier*
Mark Selby v qualifier
2:30pm
Ding Junhui v qualifier*
John Higgins v qualifier
7:00pm
Ricky Walden v qualifier
Mark Selby v qualifier*
Tuesday 22nd April 2014:
10:00am
Marco Fu v qualifier
John Higgins v qualifier*
2:30pm
Barry Hawkins v qualifier
Judd Trump v qualifier
7:00pm
Ricky Walden v qualifier*
Mark Allen v qualifier
Wednesday 23rd April 2014:
10:00am
Barry Hawkins v qualifier*
Judd Trump v qualifier*
2:30pm
Marco Fu v qualifier*
Neil Robertson v qualifier
7:00pm
Mark Davis v qualifier
Mark Allen v qualifier*
Thursday 24th April 2014:
1:00pm
Mark Davis v qualifier*
7:00pm
Neil Robertson v qualifier*
So what are the main points of interest?
As ever, the tournament will be opened by the defending champion, who for a second successive year will be Ronnie O’Sullivan, while Stuart Bingham will be the seed on the other side of the curtain on the Saturday morning.
Last year O’Sullivan had a week between his first and second matches, but this year it is a different story as his second round match will begin on Thursday evening, a session which will also see Neil Robertson bring the first round to a close on table two.
On the subject of Robertson, having made it to this weekend’s final in Beijing, he will probably not be complaining that he will not begin his assault on the World Championship until the Wednesday, giving him a few extra days to prepare for the tournament on his return to the UK.
In terms of other sessions that catch the eye, it will be good to see both John Higgins and Ding Junhui in action at the same time on the opening Monday, while Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins are two players that I fancy to go well this year and will both be in action at the same time during the opening round.
Who will you be seeing?