It will be the 35th meeting between the two and although Hendry’s wins outnumber those of Doherty 19-15, the Irishman has prevailed on some high-profile occasions, including the final of the 1997 Embassy World Championship.

“I’ve got a good record against Stephen and I always enjoy playing him. This time will be no exception,” said Doherty, keen to burst back to prominence after a low-key introduction to the season.

Fu took the opening frame yesterday with a break of a 100, but Doherty responded with a 133 in the second and went on to take the next four frames to secure victory.

Elsewhere today, defending champion and tournament favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan will battle it out with Australia's Neil Robertson for a place in the semi-finals.

Robertson scraped through with a 5-4 victory over John Higgins last night.

Hendry stormed into the quarter-finals of the £225,000 (€324,000) tournament yesterday.

Breaks of 62, 70, 119, 79 and 125 highlighted a vintage display from the player regarded as the greatest in the game’s history and made short work of Graeme Dott.

“I don’t mean to be disparaging to anyone but I was getting sick of losing to people I know I should beat,” said Hendry, who was particularly annoyed with a 9-7 defeat by world number 43 Barry Hawkins in his opening match at the UK Championship in November.

“After that I had four days off, then got straight back into it and I’ve been practising hard all over Christmas.

“For the last few years I’ve been lazy. I’ve been going down the club to play but I’ve not been putting the right type of work in. I realise that now, so I’ve decided to work harder and give it a go again.

“If you’ve got any aspirations to win things you’ve got to graft. It’s as simple as that, but even then there’s no guarantee that you’re going to do well.”