Defending champion Wilson has struggled for form at recent events but has already tasted success this season by winning the Shanghai Masters, while Robertson secured the lucrative Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters crown to help him top World Snooker’s one-year ranking list.
Robertson is bidding to clinch a complete set of Home Nations titles, having previously won the Scottish Open in 2017, the Welsh Open in 2019 and the English Open in 2021 and 2024.
Likewise, Mark Selby is chasing a Home Nations clean sweep as his success in the Welsh Open in February was added to English Open wins in 2019 and 2022 and back-to-back Scottish Open victories in 2019 and 2020.
Northern Ireland’s Allen is aiming to make up the ‘grand slam’ of Home Nations crowns this season, his win in the English Open last month, adding to two successes in the Northern Ireland Open and a Scottish Open triumph.
Allen thrilled his home crowd with successive wins in Belfast in 2021 and 2022, the first of those two wins coming after a memorable 9-8 success over John Higgins in the final.
World number one Judd Trump has not won a trophy since triumphing in the UK Championship in December last year and is yet to reach a ranking event quarter-final this season.
Trump is the most successful player in the history of the NI Open, having added a victory in 2023 to his hat-trick of wins from 2018 to 2020.
The world number one faces a particularly testing first-round match against recent British Open finalist Anthony McGill.
Shaun Murphy is a player in form, having collected the British Open title in September and reached the final of the Xi’an Grand Prix to move up to ninth in the world rankings. He also won The Masters in London in January.
Other leading challengers include four-time world champion and world-ranked six John Higgins and reigning world champion Zhao Xintong.
