An array of the world's top cueists, including Mark Selby, John Higgins, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and Chinese hopefuls Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, walked the red carpet at Shanghai Indoor Stadium last night to launch the 2013 Shanghai Masters.

One star, however, was missing. Reigning world champion Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan is skipping the event this year.

The opening match of the tournament proper will be a first-round clash between Shaun "The Magician" Murphy of England and China's Yu Delu today. The final is on September 22.

Ding's first test will come on Wednesday, when he will take on the winner of the David Gilbert-Fang Xiongman match. "It's too early to talk about winning the championship," Ding said at the red carpet ceremony. "Let's see how my form is. I'm pretty well prepared this time."

Scotland's John Higgins begins the defense of his title against Englishman Mike Dunn. "It will be very hard to defend the title here given the strong squad this year," the Wizard of Wishaw said. "However, I'll definitely try my best."

No player has yet managed to defend the championship in Shanghai, as the tournament has had six different winners since it began in 2007. Higgins edged Judd Trump 10-9 to win last year's Shanghai Masters. Other winners are Mark Selby (2011), Allister Carter (2010), O'Sullivan (2009), Ricky Walden (2008) and Dominic Dale (2007).

England's Trump faces compatriot Michael Holt in the first round when Marco Fu of China's Hong Kong will take on the winner of the match between wildcards Cao Yupeng and Zhou Yuelong.

Neil Robertson will begin against either Englishman Joe Perry or China's Wang Yuchen. The 31-year-old Australian has recently climbed to top of the world ranking thanks to his stellar performances in the latest two ranking events. He defeated Higgins in the final of the Wuxi Classic in May and was beaten by Fu in the final of the Australian Goldfields Open. "Of course I'm targeting the championship," a confident Robertson asserted yesterday.

All matches before the semifinals are best-of-9, with the semifinals at best-of-11 and a best-of-19 final. The winner will pocket 80,000 pounds (US$127,000) in prize money along with 7,000 ranking points. A player achieving a maximum break of 147 will receive an extra 40,000 pounds.