Mark Selby will begin the defence of his Masters title against Mark King at Wembley Arena next January.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, Selby's beaten opponent in last season's final, will face Mark Allen, who beat him in the second round of the 2009 World Championship.
Reigning world champion Neil Robertson tackles six times Masters champion Stephen Hendry while Jamie Cope makes his Wembley debut against Shaun Murphy.
The format includes scope for two wildcards but this is still to be confirmed.
Draw:
Mark Selby v Mark King
Shaun Murphy v Jamie Cope
Mark Williams v Ding Junhui
John Higgins v Graeme Dott
Ali Carter v Peter Ebdon
Stephen Maguire v Marco Fu
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Allen
Neil Robertson v Stephen Hendry
28 comments:
Will it be Mark King and Marco Fu to play wildcards?
I think they were 15 and 16 on the seeding list after the World Open, although if you click on 'current seeding list' on worldsnooker.com it hasn't been updated
the Fact Ding as WN5 plays Williams as WN4 in the first Round says the Seeding list is the Rankings after EPTC2 meaning King is 15th and Fu is 16th.
World Snooker Staff are lasy who cant do nothing right.
I cannot understand why they publish the draw before they know if there'll be any wildcards?
Why not wait a couple of days about announcing the draw?
wildcars to j.white and s.davis please
How can the world no.4 and 5 meet in the first round? What kind of fool looks after the seeding/rankings etc.
These cock ups wouldn't be tolerated in a club tournament yet its ok for the world body.
You would think Davis or Ferguson, being former players would notice.
Selby,Murphy,Ding,Higgins,Carter,O'Sullivan,Maguire and Robertson will be the victors to set up hopefully a more inspiring line-up than the last 16.
By Masters standards, it is a little flat, only Ding v Williams really jumps out at you from an objective standpoint.
The draw is correct. Ding is seeded ninth because he was eighth at the last cut-off and Selby, as defending champion, is automatically no.1 seed.
The fact that Ding has since moved up to fourth is neither here nor there.
If Hendry produces the goods that could potentially be a very exciting tie.
He hasn't produced the goods for about eighteen months, sadly, he played Robertson in 2009 at this stage and was outclassed.
Higgins v Dott could be interesting, if Higgins can find his groove quickly after his exile and Dott continues to play in the fluid style he exhibited at this year's World Championship.
I have to ask this, but does anyone know why Snooker is not in the Commonwealth Games? It seems ripe for inclusion.
Jamie, there isn't enough bandwith to go into the ins and outs of it but, basically, it was royally cocked up years ago when it looked like it would get into the Manchester Games
Next commonwealth games are in Glasgow from 23 July - 3 August 2014 - does the campaign to include snooker start here?
Why hasn't anyone from World Snooker announced whether there are going to be any wildcards or not?
Or haven't they noticed yet?
Alpha
Trump and Figuereirdo !
In 2010 Masters Robertson and O'Sullivan played each other in the 1st round when it should have been a semi or final.
12-08
why should it have been?
because you wanted it to be?
I'm sure the Jimmycard is probably inevitable.
Also debuting will be the all-new Nuggetcard.
I thought it was close around that time.
Billiards is one of the 31 sports that comprise the Commonwealth Sports Federation, however, it is yet to feature in an actual games.
Snooker would need, I guess, need acceptance into the federation, before any possible inclusion, so Glasgow looks unlikely.
The games may be staged in Australia in 2018, either there or Sri Lanka, if it's Australia and Neil Robertson is still a leading force when decisions need to made about what sports should make up the portfolio of events, then snooker could have a chance. However, I get the feeling this won't happen.
For the record, I don't believe snooker should be included in the olympics.It is for the reason that any sport in the Olympics should be the pinnacle of that person's career, the World Championship will always remain the ultimate prize in snooker. This is why I am aghast at the inclusion of golf for 2016 and the current involement of tennis and even football in the olympic programme.
Does it really matter anyway? The Olympics have no significance anymore. Its just looked on as a springboard to pturning pro. One big 4 week bore to me
I think millions would disagree, Usain Bolt, Michael Johnson, Michael Phelps, Nadia Comaneci and countless others were hardly using the games a stepping stone, it was the pinnacle of their career's.
I think snooker would benefit from the commonwealth games inclusion, as it would provide the opportunity to take the sport in too countries like Australia and India without the hassle of staging a ranking event. Plus, in an event, which is sometimes lacking in star quality, the likes of O'Sullivan, Robertson, Higgins, Williams and Allen would provide some genuine world class sport.
Although what's the betting we'd end up with Mark Selby, Ryan Day and Graeme Dott instead?
Boring or not, At least Selby would turn up.
well said 5.47
we could have it on Ronnies doorstep so he will play and also pay loadsamoney so he will try his socks off for an extra pay day and not pretend he doesnt know theres no 147 £ prize and then say on a whim its only 4 grand (insulting those there watching who 4 grand is a lot of money to) and then backtrack more expertly than the little boy in the snowmaze in the shining.
5:34PM - talking about Hendry.
"He hasn't produced the goods for about eighteen months, sadly, he played Robertson in 2009 at this stage and was outclassed."
Actually Jamie it was a poor standard from both players and Hendry actually led 4-3, before Robertson stole the 8th on the black and he edged 5-4 ahead after an outrage fluke helped him win another frame from behind.
Hardly outclassed.
I was wrong about him being outclassed, but not about him failing to produce for a long period of time.
When he was up against it at the Crucible against Zhang Anda he turned the magic on.
Yes, but for three frames. In his pomp or even the early 2000's, he would have Zhang for his breakfast!
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