World Snooker preview: Crucible crown as open as ever

JOHN HIGGINS begins his defence today of the World Snooker Championship, hoping to become the first man to retain the title in 14 years.

Higgins' compatriot Stephen Hendry was the last person to achieve back-to-back wins when he won his fifth in a row in 1996.

Since then, there have been eight different winners at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield with three wins each for Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan, and two wins for Mark Williams.

After a period of six different winners in six years from 1997 to 2002, Higgins and O'Sullivan emerged as the dominant forces of the last decade.

But the championship is nothing like as predictable as during the 1980s and 1990s when Steve Davis and then Hendry ruled the roost.

And it is this unpredictability as well as the unique intense atmosphere at the Crucible Theatre which makes the next 17 days' action a fascinating spectacle.

As usual, the 16 first round ties have been divided into four separate sections. Here is the full draw and a few things to look out for in each section:

FIRST ROUND DRAW
Section 1
John Higgins (1) v Barry Hawkins
Mark King (16) v Steve Davis
Neil Robertson (9) v Fergal O'Brien
Marcu Fu (8) v Martin Gould

Defending champion Higgins is not the biggest name in this first section.

That honour still rests with Steve Davis who qualified for the World Championships for a record 30th time at the age of 52, a simply brilliant feat.

Davis could have been given a tougher draw - Mark King is the lowest of the 16 seeds - but any progress by the six-time champion would be considered a surprise.

2010 Welsh Open winner Higgins might have a few problems against Barry Hawkins who has qualified for four of the six ranking events this season.

But the Scotsman should have enough to progress, as should Australian Neil Robertson, winner of the 2009 Grand Prix.

Hong Kong's Marcu Fu is a much improved player of recent years and he should win comfortably against Martin Gould, for whom this is the first finals stage of a ranking tournament all season.

Section 2
Allister Carter (5) v Jamie Cope
Joe Perry (12) v Michael Holt
Ding Junhui (13) v Stuart Pettman
Shaun Murphy (4) v Gerard Greene

After suffering a dip in form following two devastating defeats to O'Sullivan in 2007, including a first round loss at the Crucible, Ding Junhui has enjoyed a season of recovery.

The Chinese player won the UK Championship and has finished runner-up in two other ranking events, the Grand Prix and the China Open.

Ding's form promises much for a breakthrough at the World Championships where his best result is two second round appearances, both ended by Stephen Hendry.

He will be pleased then that Hendry is in the other half of the draw this time, and indeed he should make light work of this section which is not the strongest.

Fifth seed Ali Carter reached the Welsh Open final this season but the 2008 world finalist will be pushed all the way by battling Jamie Cope.

Meanwhile, 2005 champion Shaun Murphy, and the other seed in this quarter, Joe Perry, have just one quarter final appearance and one semi final appearance between them all season.

Section 3
Stephen Maguire (3) v Stephen Lee
Peter Ebdon (14) v Graeme Dott
Mark Allen (11) v Tom Ford
Ryan Day (6) v Mark Davis

Stephen Maguire begins his quest for a first Crucible crown with match-fixing allegations still hanging over him.

His 9-3 victory over Jamie Burnett in the 2008 UK Championship has been subject to a 17-month investigation by Strathclyde Police who have now passed the case to prosecutors.

And, in a separate incident, Maguire's opponent, Stephen Lee, is currently on bail after being arrested by West Midlands police on 11th February on suspicion of cheating.

It all goes to make this a fascinating match-up, though it is difficult to believe that neither man will be affected by the allegations.

Also in this section, 2002 winner Peter Ebdon takes on 2006 champion Graeme Dott.

Ebdon, seeded 14, is favourite with Dott enduring a tough time with depression which has severely affected his form since his win four years ago.

Meanwhile, Mark Allen made a huge impression at the Crucible last year, knocking out Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach the quarter finals in a stylish match between two quick players.

The young Ulsterman faces debutant Tom Ford this year and the draw has been kind enough to suggest Allen will enjoy another good run.

Sixth seed Ryan Day is currently the highest-ranked player not to have won a ranking event.

Welshman Day will be desperate to go better than his World Championship best of the quarter finals.

But he will have to be wary against Mark Davis, who has qualified for four out of six events this season.

Section 4
Mark Selby (7) v Ken Doherty
Stephen Hendry (10) v Zhang Anda
Mark Williams (15) v Marcus Campbell
Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) v Liang Wenbo

Easily the most fascinating of all the sections, the combined number of world championships from these players totals 13.

Stephen Hendry has more than half of those and, while the Scotsman is not as formidable an opponent as in his 1990s heyday, he will surely progress against Zhang Anda.

Zhang has actually done remarkably well to reach this stage, having already had to win four qualifiers to make him one of the two Crucible debutants this year.

Three-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan also faces a Chinese qualifier in Liang Wenbo, though Liang is much more experienced than Zhang.

Indeed, Liang reached the final of the Shanghai Masters ranking event at the start of this season, only to lose to O'Sullivan and it would only be fair to expect a similar result.

Welshman Mark Williams, who won this title in 2000 and 2003, dropped out of the top 16 in 2007-08 but regained his place in the elite for 2009-10.

Williams has done well on his return, winning the recent China Open and reaching the semi finals of the Grand Prix. On that form, he will have too much for Marcus Campbell.

Another former champion, Ken Doherty, has also seen a recovery in his form, though perhaps not to extent of Williams.

1997 winner Doherty fell as low as 44 in the provisional rankings after dropping out of the top 16 in 2008-09.

But, this season, the Irishman showed he can still compete at the top by reaching the quarter finals of the Shanghai Masters and hammering Joe Swail 10-1 in the qualifiers for Sheffield.

Masters winner Mark Selby is Doherty's opponent and, despite that win at Wembley, the Leicester man has failed to get beyond the last eight of a ranking event this season.