Ronnie O'Sullivan to miss Turkish Masters, but who do Judd Trump and Mark Selby face at inaugural ranking event?

ByEurosport

Updated 26/01/2022 at 14:21 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan will not make the trip to the Turkish city of Antalya for the inaugural Turkish Masters in March with world number five Kyren Wilson set to join world champion Mark Selby, world number two Judd Trump and Masters holder Neil Robertson in playing their opening qualifying matches at the Nirvana Cosmopolitan Hotel for the £500,000 ranking event.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan's decision to miss the inaugural Turkish Masters in March has given world number five Kyren Wilson a trip to Turkey to play his opening qualifying match at the Nirvana Cosmopolitan Hotel in Antalya (LIVE on Eurosport).

The final stages of the new ranking event, the 13th of the 2021/22 season, will be staged between 7-13 March with 58 of the opening 64 qualifying matches in the round of 128 being staged by the Morningside Arena in Leicester (2-6 February).

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The top four seeds have their opening matches held over until the venue with world number one Mark Selby drawn against Wu Yize, number two Judd Trump facing Michael Georgiou, Masters winner Neil Robertson taking on Iulian Boiko and Wilson meeting Rory McLeod with world number three O'Sullivan opting out.

Local wildcards Enes Bakirci faces new Shoot Out champion Hossein Vafaei and Ismail Turker confronts Thepchaiya Un-Nooh at the venue.

All matches are the best-of-nine frames until the semi-finals which are the best-of-11 frames before a best-of-17 frame final.

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Shaun Murphy meets Jimmy White in qualifying with Mark Williams facing women's world champion Reanne Evans, John Higgins meeting Barry Pinches, UK champion Zhao Xintong encountering Louis Heathcote and former Masters champion Ding Junhui taking on Andrew Pagett.

World Snooker Tour have agreed a deal with the Turkish Billiards Federation to stage the Turkish Masters until 2025 with the winner guaranteed £100,000 if they claim the trophy and the runner-up £45,000.

The Turkish Masters was due to be held in October, but was delayed until March due to the global pandemic and the battle against deadly wildfires in the area.