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Former champion Ken Doherty has won his first match at the World Snooker Championship in eight years, coming from 5-3 behind to win seven frames in a row and beat Stuart Bingham 10-5 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

Defending Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan got his Dafabet World Snooker Championship campaign off to a perfect start, seeing off Finland's Robin Hull 10-4 to progress to the Last 16 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

Here is the first round draw and the playing schedule for the Dafabet World Snooker Championship 2014 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Ronnie O'Sullivan starts his title defence against Robin Hull on Saturday.

Former winners Mark Williams, Graeme Dott and Peter Ebdon as well as former finalist Matthew Stevens will miss this year's World Snooker Championship at the Crucible after suffering defeats in the qualifiers at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.

Steve Davis, the six-time World Champion, has been relegated off the main tour following his 10-8 defeat to Craig Steadman in the World Snooker Championship qualifiers. He will be able to rejoin almost immediently via Q School next month.

Ding Junhui has matched Stephen Hendry's record of winning five ranking titles in the same season by beating world No1 Neil Robertson 10-5 to claim victory in the final of the China Open, Beijing. 

Barry Hawkins has won the second ranking title of his career, the PTC Grand Finals 2014 at the Guild Hall in Preston. He beat surprise package Gerard Greene 4-0 in the final to lift the trophy and take home the £100,000 first prize.

Shaun Murphy has won his first ranking title for three years, putting in a stellar performance to beat Mark Selby 10-6 in the final to win the Haikou World Open 2014 on Hainan Island, China. 

John Higgins recorded his biggest win of the season today in the last 16 of the Haikou World Open, recovering from 4-0 behind to make two centuries and beat Judd Trump 5-4. Also through to the quarterfinals are Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy and Graeme Dott.

Ding Junhui has made a strong start to his Haikou World Open campaign with a 5-1 win against Li Yan. There were also victories for Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Matthew Stevens and Dominic Dale.