The draw for the 2019 Masters was done today during the MSI of the first session of the UK Championship 2018 Final.

Worldsnooker has now published it, along with the format

Sunday 9 Dec 2018 12:10PM

Defending champion Mark Allen has drawn Luca Brecel in the first round of the Dafabet Masters at Alexandra Palace next month.

The draw has been made for snooker’s biggest invitation tournament, to run from January 13 to 20 in North London. It’s an elite field with only the world’s top 16 players earning the chance to compete for the £200,000 top prize and famous Paul Hunter Trophy.

Northern Ireland’s Allen won the title for the first time last season, beating Kyren Wilson 10-7 in the final. He’ll start the defence of his title against Brecel.

Crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan, who has won the Masters a record seven times, will start his bid for an eighth crown against Stuart Bingham.

World Champion Mark Williams faces Neil Robertson, while Judd Trump will take on Kyren Wilson in a repeat of last season’s semi-final which Wilson won 6-5.

The full draw is:

Mark Allen v Luca Brecel – Sunday January 13 at 1pm 
Ding Junhui v Jack Lisowski – Monday January 14 at 7pm
John Higgins v Ryan Day – Sunday January 13 at 7pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Stuart Bingham – Monday January 14 at 1pm
Mark Selby v Stephen Maguire – Wednesday January 16 at 7pm
Judd Trump v Kyren Wilson – Wednesday January 16 at 1pm
Barry Hawkins v Shaun Murphy – Tuesday January 15 at 7pm
Mark Williams v Neil Robertson – Tuesday January 15 at 1pm

Quarter-finals:
QF1 (Allen / Brecel v Ding / Lisowksi): Thursday January 17 at 7pm
QF2 (Higgins / Day v O’Sullivan / Bingham): Thursday January 17 at 1pm
QF3 (Selby / Maguire v Trump / Wilson): Friday January 18 at 1pm
QF4 (Hawkins / Murphy v Williams / Robertson):  Friday January 18 at 7pm

Semi-finals:
Winner QF1 v Winner QF2: Saturday January 19 at 1pm
Winner QF3 v Winner QF4: Saturday January 19 at 7pm

Final: Sunday January 20 at 1pm and 7pm

Televised by BBC and Eurosport, the Dafabet Masters is one of snooker’s Triple Crown events with a history dating back to 1975.

This is not an easy draw at all for Ronnie who could face Stuart Bingham, John Higgins and Mark Allen before possibly getting a crack at the final.

Despite this being a random draw when it comes to players ranked 9 to 16, the defending champion has probably be handed the easiest draw, unless Luca Brecel improves massively.