Doherty & Dott face Shanghai qualifiers

Former world champions Ken Doherty and Graeme Dott will have plenty of incentive to win on day one of the Shanghai Masters.

Dubliner Doherty and Lanarkshire cueman Dott have both drifted out of the world's elite top 16.

Doherty, who turns 40 later this month, has slid all the way to 44th, while 32-year-old Dott is ranked 28th after suffering with depression and then a broken arm.

They must enter the first ranking event of the season at the wild-card stage, and Dott will take on United Arab Emirates player Mohammed Shebab tomorrow, with Doherty facing Indian Aditya Mehta.

Doherty failed to qualify for the World Championships and will be eager to show he is not a spent force on the tour. A recent victory in a six-reds tournament suggested he still has the appetite for competition.

A first-round clash with Australian Neil Robertson, who reached the Crucible semi-finals last season, is the prize for the winner of his match against Mehta.

Dott showed some encouraging form in Sheffield in April before bowing out of the World Championship in the second round, losing to Mark Selby, and has the easier route back to the top 16.

Providing he beats Shebab, his first-round opponent will be Marco Fu, and Ronnie O'Sullivan could lie in wait in the second round for the winner of that match.

Liang Wenbo, Nigel Bond and Gerard Greene are among the other players in wild-card round action tomorrow, with the first-round matches beginning on Tuesday.

The defending champion is Ricky Walden, who enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2008-09, beating O'Sullivan in Shanghai before coming through qualifying to make his Crucible debut.

The 26-year-old Englishman is also closing in on a top-16 ranking, and believes maintaining a high level of fitness can help him continue to climb.

He is planning to run the New York Marathon on 1 November, and explained recently: ‘I've been doing a lot of running because it gives me discipline outside snooker, and it improves my fitness.

‘It can only help my game, especially in the long matches, and that will give me more chances to win trophies. I've done a couple of half-marathons before, but never a full one. It could finish me off!’