O'Sullivan also made a maxiumum 147 at this year's World Championship

Ronnie O'Sullivan hopes to recapture his stunning form of a year ago as he prepares to return to Telford to defend his Maplin UK Championship title.

"The Rocket" fired a maximum 147 break in the final-frame decider of his 2007 semi-final with Mark Selby before crushing Stephen Maguire in the final.

"Winning the UK was a big moment for me last year," he said. "I remember the 147 - that was a great buzz.

"I'm looking forward to going back and trying to play good snooker again."

O'Sullivan's fourth UK title - after previous triumphs in 1993, 1997 and 2001 - was his first ranking tournament victory in nearly three years.

It provided the springboard for him to go on and win his third world title in Sheffield in May, and claim the world number one spot.

O'Sullivan started the new season in style by winning his 21st ranking event at the Northern Ireland Trophy in August, and also reached the final of the second, the Shanghai Masters, where he was surprisingly beaten by qualifier Ricky Walden.

606: DEBATE No one will beat Ronnie. Ronnie can only beat himself splendidmagicronnie

But after withdrawing from last month's Bahrain Championship because of fatigue, he is in upbeat mood ahead of the second biggest event on the snooker calendar.

"I feel as good as I have felt for a long time, and life is positive at the moment," O'Sullivan, 33, told the BBC's Inside Sport Programme.

He begins the defence of his title against world number 44 Rory McLeod on Saturday.

Another highlight of the opening day sees an all-Welsh contest between in-form world number eight Ryan Day and 2003 UK champion Matthew Stevens.

World number four Mark Selby, another of the favourites, has a tough opening match against two-time UK champion Mark Williams.

I know my game's in good shape at the moment. There's no reason why I can't win it this year Mark Selby

"No disrespect to any other player, but I think he was the only player who could have done that against me in that situation - and he did it as if it was nothing really," Selby recalled.

"Ronnie's always a pleasure to watch when he's flowing. He's probably the only player who, when you're sitting in your chair, you can't really get downbeat about - because he's so good to watch."

Selby, who won the Masters and Welsh Open last season but has only one semi-final appearance - in Shanghai - to his name this season, lost 7-2 to O'Sullivan in the Premier League final last week.

But he insists: "It's not dented my confidence, because I know all I did was miss a couple of balls - that's all it takes against someone of Ronnie's standard. He just seems to punish you and run away with it.

"Obviously it was a little bit disappointing having got to the final and then not really performed but my 5-0 win over Stephen Hendry in the semi-final was probably some of the best snooker I have played on TV for a while.

"I know my game's in good shape at the moment and I'm more than capable of going on to win another tournament.

"There's no reason why I can't win it this year."

Selby could meet O'Sullivan in the semi-finals in Telford again this year, but first has to get past Williams, who has beaten him in both their previous meetings.

Five-time champion Stephen Hendry also has a potentially tricky opener against Stephen Lee.

First round draw:

Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) v Rory McLeod (Eng)
Joe Perry (Eng) v Mark Davis (Eng)
Marco Fu (HK) v Barry Hawkins (Eng)
Ryan Day (Wal) v Matthew Stevens (Wal)
Ali Carter (Eng) v Ian McCulloch (Eng)
Peter Ebdon (Eng) v Andrew Higginson (Eng)
Graeme Dott (Sco) v Ken Doherty (Ire)
Mark Selby (Eng) v Mark Williams (Wal)
Shaun Murphy (Eng) v Martin Gould (Eng)
Mark Allen (NI) v Stuart Bingham (Eng)
Mark King (Eng) v Judd Trump (Eng)
Stephen Hendry (Sco) v Stephen Lee (Eng)
John Higgins (Sco) v Joe Swail (NI)
Ding Junhui (Chn) v Steve Davis (Eng)
Neil Robertson (Aus) v Michael Holt (Eng)
Stephen Maguire (Sco) v Jamie Burnett (Sco)

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