Snooker / Paul Krishnamurty / 07 October 2009 /

Veteran Ken will wear down Neil Robertson is this one gets scrappy, says Paul Krishnamurty

As is so often the case during the early stages of the season, the first round of the Grand Prix in Glasgow was littered with upsets. Arguably none more so than the defeat of one of the tournament favourites, Mark Selby, at the hands of veteran Ken Doherty.

Last season, the 1997 world champion and three times finalist looked all washed up as a top-class player, disappearing out of the world's top-32. Very few come back from there, but typically for this resilient character, Ken has bounced back really well in the early part of the new season, but at 37 in the provisional list he still has much work to do. He reached the quarter-finals in Shanghai, and has a decent chance of repeating that achievement by beating Neil Robertson today.

Given his superiority in the rankings, world no.9 Robertson deserves favouritism, but its been some while since he last looked truly convincing. Robbo hasn't really progressed as a tactician, and if this match gets scrappy, I could see Doherty's experience and tactical nous proving pivotal.

The 'Melbourne Machine' is certainly beatable, so given the nature of this tournament to date, I'm backing the popular Irishman at [2.48] to take another step in his long march back up the rankings.

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