Ronnie O’Sullivan and co have discovered their first-round matches for the World Snooker Championship draw. The top 16 seeds were paired with 16 qualifiers who came through to reach the Crucible after a dramatic final day, which saw several matches go down to the wire.
The Rocket’s participation is not yet confirmed, despite being in the hat for Thursday morning’s draw, having not played a competitive match since January. He snapped his cue at the Championship League, but has been practicing in Saudi Arabia before heading to Sheffield.
And O’Sullivan faces another grudge match after being drawn with fellow Essex potter Ali Carter. The two have a history, including barging each other and the Rocket calling out the Captain in a public row.
O’Sullivan described Carter as a “f***ing nightmare” and told him to see a psychiatrist in an expletive-laden rant, shortly after downing his fierce rival Alexandra Palace.
Their match is the juiciest of the entire round, with all eyes on whether O’Sullivan will participate, ahead of a mouthwatering 17 days of snooker action in the Steel City.
World Snooker Championship 2025 draw in full
Judd Trump vs Zhou Yuelong
Zhang Anda vs Pang Junxu
Shaun Murphy vs Dan Wells
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ali Carter
Ding Junhui vs Zak Surety
Mark Allen vs Fan Zhengyi
Jak Jones vs Zhao Xintong
John Higgins vs Joe O’Connor
Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin
Xiao Guodong vs Matt Selt
Mark Williams vs Wu Yize
Barry Hawkins vs Hossein Vafaei
Mark Selby vs Ben Woollaston
Kyren Wilson vs Lei Peifan
Luca Brecel vs Ryan Day
Si Jiahui vs David Gilbert
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