Higgins To Face Stevens At The Crucible
Millions of snooker fans watched the 888.com live online snooker draw for the first time yesterday.
Defending champion, Higgins will defend his World Championship Title on April 19th against Matthew Stevens.
The draw took place yesterday as fans logged on to the web site to witness the exclusive draw, which has only 32 players remaining.
Higgins defeated Mark Selby 18-13 in last years final, and was in attendance to witness the draw. Welshman Stevens has never lost a first round match at the Crucible and is also an impressive, five-time semi finalist. Scottish Higgins certainly didn’t underestimate his next opponent as he spoke of the draw,
‘There are no easy draws but Matthew is one of the toughest I could have got.’
John Higgins is aware of Matthew’s potting abilities and admitted he will be upping his game to defend his crown. He reported yesterday that, ‘I’ve got five or six weeks practice now to get myself ready.’ There will be no animosity between the players and Higgins is fully aware of the upcoming meeting, he asserts that, ‘We’ve had some cracking matches over the years.’
China made its mark on the snooker world yesterday as three of its players made it through to the draw. Liu Chang proved to be a formidable opponent by beating Dominic Dale 10-9 and became the 4th 17 yr old to make it to the prestigious tournament. Chang drew world class player, Ronnie O’ Sullivan in the draw and spoke of his anticipation of facing him, ‘I’m very excited because Ronnie was my idol when I first started playing snooker at the age of ten.’ Sullivan defeated Liu at last years Honghe Industrial China Open. Ding Junhui drew Hong Kong’s Marco Fu and Liang Wenbo will also be flying the flag for China when he faces former Champion, Ken Doherty.
Seven time Crucible winner Stephen Hendry will play against Mark Allen. Allen made his debut last year and spectacularly beat Ken Doherty. Hendry was overcome by Allen 9-4 in the Maplin UK Championships early this year.
With the online draw being a success fans can follow the final 32 players to find out who will pot their way to the final in Sheffield Whoever makes it through will prove that the prize is won through sheer talent and sportsmanship, not through the luck of the draw.
Yesterday’s draw decided on the following matches…
John Higgins V Matthew Stevens
Ryan Day V Michael Judge
Ding Junhill V Marco Fu
Stephen Hendry V Mark Allen
Ronnie O’ Sullivan V Liu Chang
Mark Williams V Mark Davis
Stephen Lee V Joe Swail
Ken Doherty V Liang Wenbo
Shaun Murphy V Dave Harold
Ali Carter V Barry Hawkins
Mark Selby V Mark King
Peter Ebdon V Jamie Cope
Neil Robertson V Nigel Bond
Stephen Maguire V Anthony Hamilton
Steve Davis V Stewart Bingham
Graeme Dott V Joe Perry
The 888.com World Championships is played from April 19th to May 5th at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre.