RONNIE O’SULLIVAN will face Ali Carter in the first round of the World Snooker Championship.
The first round draw has been completed with action underway at the Crucible on Saturday.
Judd Trump, left, and Kyren Wilson are the favourites to win the tournament[/caption]
Tournament favourite and world No1 Judd Trump kicks off his campaign against Zhou Yuelong.
While defending champion Kyren Wilson, who is hoping to end the Crucible curse, faces Lei Peifan first.
But the pick of the first round matches is O’Sullivan vs Carter.
The pair have plenty of history after falling out over their ‘Snotgate’ row.
BBC presenter Rob Walker reacted to the tie, saying: “I can’t believe it!…That will be salty.”
O’Sullivan is aiming to win a record eighth world title – he is tied for the most tournament wins with Stephen Hendry.
It is just the second competition he will take part in since the start of the year, having taken rests to look after his mental wellbeing.
The Rocket missed the Masters and was a late withdrawal from the German Masters and the Welsh Open, while he pulled out of the Championship League after five matches.
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World Snooker Championship first round 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 Xingtong
John Higgins vs Joe O’Connor
Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin
Xiao Guodong vs Matthew 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
Elsewhere former champions John Higgins and Mark Selby take on Joe O’Connor and Ben Woollaston respectively.
Fellow Crucible champions Luca Brecel and Neil Robertson also return – they play Ryan Day and Chris Wakelin.
Masters champion and 2005 Crucible winner Shaun Murphy takes on Dan Wells.