Ronnie O’Sullivan begins his quest to win a second German Masters title against Iran’s number one Hossein Vafaei in his opening qualifying match for Berlin.
The six-times world champion memorably lifted the German title in 2012 with a 9-7 win over Stephen Maguire only four months before claiming his fourth world title at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan will meet Steven Hallworth or Andrew Higginson in the second qualifying round if he progresses.
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In the year he lifted the trophy, O’Sullivan famously recovered from 4-0 behind to complete a 5-4 win over Higginson in the first round.
Defending champion Judd Trump is bidding for a third straight German Masters crown and will meet Tian Pengfei in the opening round.
Trump will face Aaron Hill or 2017 German Masters winner Anthony Hamilton in the last 64 if he wins his opener.
Trump defeated Neil Robertson 9-6 in 2019 and Jack Lisowski 9-2 when the tournament was held in Milton Keynes last year.
UK champion Robertson faces Fraser Patrick in the first round.
Watch Trump retain German Masters title with stunning century
World champion Mark Selby meets Scottish amateur Ross Muir with Stephen Hendry due to take on Gao Yang in his opener.
Each player needs to win two qualifying rounds at Cannock Leisure Centre between 18-26 October to reach the tournament proper at the Tempodrom in Berlin.
All qualifying matches will be played over the best of nine frames.
The German Masters runs between 26-30 January 2022 and is LIVE on Eurosport.
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Source: Euro Sports
