As per tournament tradition, reigning champion Kyren Wilson will get his title defence underway on the opening day of this year's World Snooker Championship.
Wilson won snooker's ultimate prize for the first time in his career here 12 months ago after he defeated qualifier Jak Jones in the final.
World number two Wilson has enjoyed a stellar season wearing the world crown, taking his game up to several new levels and winning four more ranking events.
No first-time World Champion at this famous venue has successfully defended the title, though, so Wilson will need to re-write the record books if he is to retain and break the 'Crucible Curse'.
Wilson will complete his round one match on Saturday with morning and evening sessions. He faces a player in Lei Peifan who is a Crucible debutant, but who is also a current ranking event winner, having stunned the snooker world back in December at the Scottish Open
The two have only met once before on the professional tour; in February, when Wilson defeated Lei 5-1 in the last 64 of the World Open in China.
Four other matches will begin on Saturday with their opening sessions, and are set to be concluded on Sunday.
Helping break off proceedings in the morning session are Xiao Guodong and Matthew Selt, who will face each other in a ranking event for the first time in over a decade.
In the best season of his career, so far, Xiao is a Crucible seed for the first time. Selt is back at the Crucible for a fifth time, and is looking for his first match win there.
In the afternoon session, two former champions start their title tilts, and both are against very dangerous opponents who are ranked inside the world’s top 22.
Having slipped out of the world's top 16 and subsequently failing to qualify, Neil Robertson missed out on the Crucible last year for the first time since 2004. After a rejuvenating season where he has won two ranking titles and is back in the world's elite ranking bracket, though, the Australian is back here as a seed.
Robertson meets former Shoot Out champion Chris Wakelin, who was nearly a seed here himself this year. It’s Crucible journey number four for Wakelin, and he is aiming to get past round one proper for the first time.
In ranking competition, Robertson leads the head-to-head 5-1.
Three-time Crucible conqueror Mark Williams is now 50, but ranked sixth in the world.
However, Williams has had a disappointing calendar year, so far, and has been struggling with eyesight issues in recent weeks. He could be vulnerable against exciting 21-year-old Chinese talent Wu Yize, who is having the best season of his young career, to date, having reached his first two ranking event finals.
Wu - who ousted two-time runner-up Matthew Stevens 10-9 in the final qualifying round only a few days ago - wins his second Crucible cap after his debut two years ago.
These two have never played each other professionally before.
Barry Hawkins plays Hossein Vafaei in the evening session. There isn't much to go on in terms of head-to-heads - it's one all.
Between 2013 to 2018, Hawkins made at least the semi-finals here five times, although since 2019 he hasn't got past the last 16, and he hasn't won a Crucible match since 2021 (didn't qualify in 2023).
Vafaei has made it to the main draw for the fourth consecutive year. Iran's number one was very impressive in his final qualifying round win earlier this week, making five century breaks in a 10-4 win over Wang Yuchen.
2025 World Snooker Championship: Saturday 19th April match schedule, order of play, start times
Morning session from 10:00BST
- Kyren Wilson v Lei Peifan - first session (9 frames)
- Xiao Guodong v Matthew Selt - first session (9 frames)
Afternoon session from 14:30BT
- Neil Robertson v Chris Wakelin - first session (9 frames)
- Mark Williams v Wu Yize - first session (9 frames)
Evening session from 19:00BST
- Kyren Wilson v Lei Peifan - second and concluding session
- Barry Hawkins v Hossein Vafaei - first session (9 frames)
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