Breaking news: Davis drawn against Dale

Mark Davis has been drawn against Dominic Dale in round one of the Dafabet World Snooker Championship

The draw for the sport’s blue riband event was made at midday today (Thursday) and St Leonards-based world number 12 Davis was handed a tricky tie against Welsh qualifier Dale, ranked 24.

The match will take place over the best of 19 frames at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield with the first session on Wednesday evening and the second session next Thursday afternoon.

Davis is among the seeded players for the first time, meaning he avoided having to come through the nerve-racking qualifiers. Dale - the Snooker Shoot-Out champion - won 10-6 against Andrew Higginson in the final round of the qualifiers this week.

Of the other ties pulled out of the hat, Finnish qualifier Robin Hull will take on defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and Crucible debutant Robbie Williams will face world number one Neil Robertson. The tournament will get underway on Saturday and continue through until Monday May 5.

Full draw: Ronnie O’Sullivan v Robin Hull; Joe Perry v Jamie Burnett; Shaun Murphy v Jamie Cope; Marco Fu v Martin Gould; Barry Hawkins v Dave Gilbert; Ricky Walden v Kyren Wilson; Mark Davis v Dominic Dale; Ding Junhui v Michael Wasley; Mark Selby v Michael White; Ali Carter v Xiao Guodong;

John Higgins v Alan McManus; Stuart Bingham v Ken Doherty; Judd Trump v Tom Ford; Stephen Maguire v Ryan Day; Mark Allen v Michael Holt; Neil Robertson v Robbie Williams.