Neil Robertson will take on seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry in round one of the 2012 World Open in China next month.

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The newly crowned Masters champion begins the defence of his World Open title against arguably snooker's greatest player - Stephen Hendry in the stand out last 32 tie.

Hendry is in desperate need of a good run in a ranking event to proprel himself back up the rankings. He will be hoping to end his poor record against top 16 players by upsetting the in-form Aussie.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is among a number of top seeds who await their first round opponent from the wildcard round. He will face either Tom Ford, a UK Championship qualifier and PTC event winner, or unknown Asian quantity Lu Haotian.

Should the Rocket progress, he could face Welshman Mark Williams in the last should he also win his opener.

Another tasty looking tie sees world champion John Higgins face 2011 Masters runner-up Marco Fu, while UK Champion Judd Trump begins his campaign with a tricky starter against Chesire cueman Andrew Higginson.

Brazil Masters winner and Masters finalist Shaun Murphy plays Ricky Walden in a clash of the potting maestros, as local hero Ding Junhui will take on either youngster Sam Baird or a fellow Chinese qualifier.

The 2012 Haikou World Open ranking event will take place between February 27 to March 4 in Haikou, China and returns to the snooker calendar following a two-year absense.

These matches will be played in Haikou on 27 February 2012

Wildcard Round
WC1 Sam Baird v Jin Long
WC2 Robert Milkins v Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
WC3 Mark King v Hossein Vafaei
WC4 Tom Ford v Lu Haotian
WC5 Jimmy Robertson v Zhou Yuelong
WC6 Joe Perry v Rouzi Maimaiti
WC7 Michael Holt v Zhu Yinghui
WC8 Nigel Bond v Lu Ning

Last 32 Draw Bracket

John Higgins v Marco Fu
Martin Gould v Jamie Cope
Ding Junhui v Winner of WC1
Stephen Maguire v Winner of WC2
Graeme Dott v Barry Hawkins
Ali Carter v Marcus Campbell
Stephen Lee v Dominic Dale
Neil Robertson v Stephen Hendry
Mark Williams v Winner of WC3
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Winner of WC4
Mark Allen v Winner of WC5
Judd Trump v Andrew Higginson
Shaun Murphy v Ricky Walden
Matthew Stevens v Winner of WC6
Stuart Bingham v Winner of WC7
Mark Selby v Winner of WC8

Prize Fund
Winner: £75,000
Runner-up: £34,000
Semi-final: £16,000
Quarter-final: £10,000
Last 16: £7,500
Last 32: £6,000
Last 48: £2,300
Last 64: £1,500

Stage 1 highest break: £500
Stage 2 highest break: £2,000
Stage 1 maximum break: £500
 
Total: £400,500