Scotland’s John Higgins will be looking to bounce back at the first attempt as he tries to qualify for the China Open.
The world No.5 was last in action at the Masters and he looked set for an appearance in the final before he ran into eventual winner Mark Allen.
Higgins was dumped out in the semi-finals after previously beating Ryan Day and Anthony McGill and he will now get the chance to make amends.
The 42-year-old will take on Adam Duffy in Tuesday’s evening session and Duffy will be doing all he can to pull off a shock victory.
He pushed Judd Trump all the way during qualifying for the German Masters but he has not been seen since. Iran’s Hossein Vafaei is also in action and looking to start the year in style after a disappointing end to 2017.
The 23-year-old’s best result came in the UK Championship where he lost in the third round to Martin Gould.
A win this week would set him up perfectly for the Shoot-Out in February, but he must get past Pakistan’s Hamza Akbar.
The world No.126 failed to qualify for the German Masters last month but he will be determined to go one better this week.
After losing to Higgins, McGill returns to action as he prepares to face off against Thor Chuan Leong. The final match of the day sees Daniel Wells take on Elliott Slessor.
Wells is the 1.75 favourite for Tuesday’s match but a tight contest is expected. Slessor is priced at 1.95 to take the victory but he has not won since December.
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