It took an excellent performance by Mark Selby to eject him from the Masters in the semi-finals, after Doherty had produced a stirring comeback to beat Shaun Murphy in the previous round, a match in which Doherty hit three century breaks in the last four frames.

When Ronnie O’ Sullivan will have reviewed the draw, he will have been largely happy with his lot but he will not have been pleased to find Doherty in his half of the draw and a potential quarter-final opponent.

The main danger to Doherty with this match is that he is a notoriously slow starter in tournaments. Like a tail end slogger, he can be vulnerable early on but once he gets his eye in, he becomes very difficult to shift.

At least with O’ Sullivan and Higgins, Doherty will know his opponent’s game inside out and know what their relative weaknesses are. With Wenbo, he will have to make that assessment while the match is in progress.

Doherty enjoys playing in Sheffield and you sense that he feels he has one more big title victory in him before he packs his cue away.

As the draw has worked out, he probably will not get many better opportunities. Prediction: Doherty 10-4 Wenbo

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