Contrasting styles of Ebdon and O’Sullivan set to clash

Ebdon was the player all the seeds wanted to avoid, after he won the China Open at the start of April and followed that with a 10-0 demolition of Alfie Burden in the final qualifying round on Sunday night.

But crowd favourite O’Sullivan in particular will be unimpressed at drawing the 2002 world champion in yesterday’s draw, given their history in Sheffield.

Ebdon defeated 20-year-old O’Sullivan in the 1996 semi-finals, before that was avenged at the quarter-final stage in 2001.

Their 2005 quarter-final meeting ranks as one of the most memorable matches in recent World Championship history, as O’Sullivan saw a 10-6 lead slip away during a dramatic evening session when Ebdon’s slow play left his opponent, with his attacking game blunted, apparently bewildered and helpless.

Ebdon took the match 13-11, and despite three-times world champion O’Sullivan posting four big wins over the 41-year-old away from Sheffield since that day, their history at the Crucible makes the clash next Monday and Tuesday unmissable.

Reacting to the draw, six-times world champion Steve Davis said: “There’s only one match, it’s Peter Ebdon against Ronnie O’Sullivan.

“Even though they might have to put a brave face on it, I don’t think they want to play each other to be honest.”

John Higgins will begin the defence of his title against China’s Liang Wenbo at 10am on Saturday, day one of the tournament.

Luca Brecel, the 17-year-old Belgian who will be the youngest player to appear at the World Championship, was handed a tricky opening match against Scotland’s Stephen Maguire.

Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry, who joined Liang, Ebdon and Brecel in coming through the qualifying stage, plays Stuart Bingham on Saturday afternoon.

World No 1 Mark Selby, who has been troubled by a back problem, was drawn to face Barry Hawkins in an all-English contest, while last year’s runner-up Judd Trump will tackle Welshman Dominic Dale.

Shaun Murphy, the 2005 champion, tackles debutant Welshman Jamie Jones, who stands in the former Rotherham cueman’s way.

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