John Higgins begins the defence of his Welsh Open title against young Chinese star Liang Wenbo in Newport this evening.

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The Scot has lifted the trophy for the past two years but is yet to win a ranking title this season; he will be hoping to end his drought by making it a hat-trick in Newport this week.

His opening opponent Liang Wenbo is renowned for being a dangerous player on the circuit and has a bright future ahead of him, aged just 24.

Now world number 40, the Chinese number two enjoyed a fine year in 2009, reaching the Shanghai Masters final. He also lifted the World Cup for China last year alongside Ding Junhui.

Both players are dangerous when in among the balls and are likely to stage a highly entertaining encounter this evening.

This will be the first meeting between the two since 2009, when Higgins recorded a comprehensive 9-2 win over the youngster in the Quarter-Finals of the UK Championship.

The bookmakers make Higgins the firm 2/7 favourite to progress again tonight, with Wenbo priced at 5/2 for victory with Bet365.

The match begins at 7pm and will be streamed live over the best of seven frames from the Newport Centre, Wales.