At 17 years, 43 days, Belgium's Luca Brecel is the youngest player ever to qualify for the snooker world championships. "The bigger the occasion, the better I seem to handle it," he said. Photo/ Agencies

But arguably the tie of the first round is a clash of between another two former world champions in Ronnie O'Sullivan and Peter Ebdon.

O'Sullivan, when in form, is a brilliantly fluent player whereas Ebdon is a methodical, tactical grinder.

The most celebrated Crucible meeting between the pair came in a 2005 quarterfinal, where O'Sullivan let slip a 10-6 lead as Ebdon, who won 13-11, slowed the game down to the despair of his fellow Englishman.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, Belgian teenager Luca Brecel will become the youngest player to appear in the World Championship when he faces Scotland's Stephen Maguire on Sunday.

But having beaten four experienced players in qualifying, a confident Brecel, who will be 17 years and 43 days when he steps into the Crucible arena, said: "The bigger the occasion, the better I seem to handle it."

Last year's world title capped an incident-packed season for the 36-year-old Higgins that started with a suspension, his punishment for non-disclosure and giving the appearance he was prepared to break betting rules following a sting operation carried out by now defunct British tabloid the News of the World.

Higgins beat impressive rising star Trump (up against Dominic Dale in the first round) 18-15 in the final and immediately afterwards said his target was to equal Stephen Hendry's record of seven world titles.

But, having struggled in 2012, Higgins admitted: "I think to be brutally honest I was a little bit high on my success when I said that."