Ronnie O'Sullivan to play Peter Ebdon in world championship first round (original) (raw)

John Higgins will begin the defence of his world championship title against China's Liang Wenbo but the pick of the first-round draw is Ronnie O'Sullivan being drawn against Peter Ebdon.

Ebdon beat O'Sullivan in a famous quarter-final in Sheffield seven years ago, when his slow play drew criticism and left O'Sullivan clearly frustrated.

Ebdon, 41, breezed through his qualifier on Sunday night, beating Alfie Burden 10-0, and after winning the China Open at the start of the month he is a player in rich form.

The clash of the former world champions, Ebdon a one-time winner from 2002 and O'Sullivan a three-times title holder, will take place over afternoon sessions next Monday and Tuesday. Higgins will begin his campaign at 10am on Saturday, day one of the tournament.

First-round draw

John Higgins v Liang Wenbo

Stuart Bingham v Stephen Hendry

Graeme Dott v Joe Perry

Stephen Maguire v Luca Brecel

Shaun Murphy v Jamie Jones

Stephen Lee v Andrew Higginson

Ali Carter v Mark Davis

Judd Trump v Dominic Dale

Mark Williams v Liu Chuang

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Peter Ebdon

Martin Gould v David Gilbert

Neil Robertson v Ken Doherty

Ding Junhui v Ryan Day

Mark Allen v Cao Yupeng

Matthew Stevens v Marco Fu

Mark Selby v Barry Hawkins