Graeme Dott put the disappointment of having to pull out of last season’s Roewe Shanghai Masters behind him, with a 5-3 victory over Mohammed Shehab on the opening day of the first ranking event in the 2009-2010 season.

Dott, a former World Champion, dropped out of the top 16 last term after a very difficult season, he is now having to play qualifying matches in order to reach the latter stages, something he is in no way comfortable with. “Playing qualifiers is not something I’ve had to do for ten years, I don’t like playing them and will need to get back into the top 16,” he said.

Dott’s opponent, Shehab, is one of two non-Chinese players to be given a wildcard into this years event. The UAE national struggled early on leading to a 3-1 scoreline in favour of Dott at the interval. Shehab did perform better after the break in winning two of the frames, however, it was the Scotsman with a break of 53 that wrapped up the match in the next. Dott will now play Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first round proper.

Ken Doherty, another former World Champion, has seem himself slip to 55th in the provisional rankings after an abismal season in 2008-09. He has started this season well, one by qualifying for this event and two through winning the recent ‘Super Sixes’ Pro Challenge series event. He had, what proved to be a  routine win, over India’s India’s Aditya Mehta 5-0.

“I played well and it’s a good exercise to play a wild card before going into the first round,” said Doherty who now faces Neil Robertson. “It gives you a game under your belt and a chance to get used to the tables.
“I’ve got my tail up at the moment and my confidence is coming back. It’s one step at a time, but I feel as if I can beat anyone, whereas last season I felt as if I could lose to anyone. It will be extremely difficult for me to get back into the top 16 but I’m confident I will do it.

“I was so sorry to miss this tournament last year so it’s great to be back.”
Mehta, who appeared on the Main Tour last season, took time to adjust to the conditions on his debut at the television stage of a ranking event.

“To play a former World Champion like Ken Doherty is every player’s dream but I found it tough against him. I may have lost 5-0 on the day but I learnt a lot. I was honoured that the CBSA gave me one of the wild card places,” said Mehta.

China’s Tian Pengfei was the only wild card to enjoy victory in the first session of this year’s tournament, with a 5-1 victory over Andrew Higginson.

Also through is Marcus Campbell after his win over Tang Jun by the same 5-1 scoreline. They shared the opening two frames before Campbell took the next four with a top run of 66.

Campbell will play fellow Scot Stephen Hendry, in a repeat of the 1998 UK Championship match which Campbell won 9-0. Tian will take on world No 5 Ali Carter.

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