Ronnie O’Sullivan opens his UK Championship defence on Thursday against Luke Simmonds, with world number one Mark Selby also in action.

O’Sullivan is bidding to bounce back from his Northern Ireland Open defeat after going down 9-7 to Judd Trump in the final in Belfast.

‘The Rocket’ has been handed a tough draw in section one as he will face veteran Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, in the second round should he see off Simmonds, while Jack Lisowski and Marco Fu are potential last-16 opponents.

The world number three should have no problem seeing off Simmonds, who is currently an amateur and has fallen at the first hurdle in all four ranking events he has qualified for this season.

O’Sullivan is 3.50 to win the UK Championship outright and 3.00 to beat Simmonds 6-0.

O’Sullivan is bidding to claim a 19th Triple Crown win by landing the trophy at the Barbican Centre in York, which would see him move ahead of Stephen Hendry and set a new outright record.

Selby also opens his account on Thursday and is 7.00 to win the tournament. The ‘Jester from Leicester’ will be hoping to make a mark in the majors this year after last year’s struggles.

Selby won two titles last season but fell in the second round of the UK Championship and went out in the first round of both the Masters and World Championship. The 35-year-old is up against James Cahill, who won a place on the world snooker tour through Q School, and is 3.60 to win 6-0.