Wuhan Open snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ken Doherty set to meet 30 years after first major encounter
Former world champions Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ken Doherty are set to face each other at the Wuhan Open in China after the qualifying draw was announced on Tuesday.
The evergreen duo – who boast eight Crucible crowns, 45 ranking event victories and a combined age of 100 between them – will meet in the round of 128 at the finals venue with the tournament staged between October 9-15 in the country’s Hubei province.
O’Sullivan and Doherty’s first major meeting remarkably came at the 1993 UK Championship when the 17-year-old O’Sullivan won 9-5 in the last 16 on his path to claiming the title as the youngest ranking event winner of all time.
O’Sullivan is 17-9 clear on the career head-to-head, with 1997 world champion Doherty’s last win coming 20 years ago in an epic 6-5 quarter-final win at the 2003 Masters in London.
They last met in the last 64 of the 2018 UK Championship with O’Sullivan emerging a 6-5 victor from 4-1 down on his way to securing a record seventh triumph.
World champion Luca Brecel’s opening encounter with Xing Zihao has also been held over to the venue in Wuhan, along with the matches involving DIng Junhui against Ashley Hugill, Zhou Yuelong against world women’s Champion Baipat Siripaporn, plus four ties involving wild card entrants.
Unlike the Home Nations Series – consisting of the Northern Ireland Open, English Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open – that sees the world’s top 16 earn an automatic place at the venue, the sport’s leading names have to qualify for the last-64 stage via a trip to the Morningside Arena in Leicester (September 1-5).
Trump will meet Lukas Kleckers in Leicester as he chases a spot in Wuhan, with Mark Selby confronting Andy Lee, Neil Robertson taking on fellow Australian Ryan Thomerson and John Higgins meeting Dylan Emery.
Shaun Murphy has been handed a qualifying fixture against Belgian talent Ben Mertens, with Mark Williams up against Estonia’s Andres Petrov.
Elsewhere, new European Masters champion Barry Hawkins meets Louis Heathcote, while six-time world finalist Jimmy White has been handed a match with Liam Highfield.
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World top 16 after European Masters
- 1. Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) 883,000
- 2. Luca Brecel (Bel) 878,000
- 3. Mark Allen (NI) 837,500
- 4. Judd Trump (Eng) 586,000
- 5. Mark Selby (Eng) 564,000
- 6. Neil Robertson (Aus) 542,000
- 7. Shaun Murphy (Eng) 480,000
- 8. Kyren Wilson (Eng) 435,000
- 9. John Higgins (Sco) 409,000
- 10. Mark Williams (Wal) 316,500
- 11. Ali Carter (Eng) 296,000
- 12. Robert Milkins (Eng) 294,500
- 13. Barry Hawkins (Eng) 284,500
- 14. Jack Lisowski (Eng) 282,000
- 15. Ding Junhui (Chn) 243,500
- 16. Ryan Day (Wal) 238,500
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