Ronnie O’Sullivan involved in eye-catching opening day at English Open

World champion Luca Brecel plays Stan Moody, Crucible runner-up Mark Selby takes on Xing Zhao and probably the highlight of the opening round sees four-time world champ John Higgins take on Hong Kong legend Marco Fu.

The opening round is technically the qualifying round for the English Open, but the top 16 in the rankings see their qualifiers held over to the main arena at the Brentwood Leisure Centre.

Meanwhile, the rest of qualifying is being played this week in Leicester ahead of the main stage running from 2-8 October.

English Open Schedule Monday 2 October

10am
Mark Allen v Mostafa Dorgham
Ding Junhui v Ma Hailong
Ryan Day v Ashley Hugill
Robert Milkins v Robbie Williams

Not before 1pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Andrew Pagett
John Higgins v Marco Fu
Ryan Davies v Bradley Cowdroy (English amateur wild cards)
Jack Lisowski v Matthew Stevens

Roll-on Roll-off
Mark Selby v Xing Zhao
Neil Robertson v Sanderson Lam
Ali Carter v Jamie Clarke

7pm
Luca Brecel v Stan Moody
Shaun Murphy v Liu Hongyu
Mark Williams v Ian Burns

Not before 8 pm
Judd Trump v Sean O’Sullivan
Kyren Wilson v Oliver Lines
Barry Hawkins v Anthony Hamilton

Snooker fans are yet to see O’Sullivan in action yet this season, last watching the Rocket at the table as he was beaten by Brecel in the Crucible quarter-finals.

He will get his campaign underway at the Shanghai Masters next week on 12 September, before a busy schedule which sees him due to play the British Open, English Open and Wuhan Open in consecutive weeks.

MORE : Wuhan Open field set as qualifying throws up shocks and strong showings

MORE : ‘I just don’t think that’s true’ – Barry Hawkins dismisses theory he’s ‘too nice’ to triumph

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