Ken Doherty and Stephen Hendry are bidding to end the first half of the season on a high note in the £280,000 German Open in Bingen. Doherty, though, played down his chances and said: "I'm in the same half of the draw as Hendry, so it's not going to be easy. But as world champion I've set myself a target of winning at least a couple of tournaments this season. That is still my aim but I'm going to have to play a lot better to achieve it."

Initially, Doherty takes on Accrington-based Shokat Ali, the captain of Pakistan's team during last year's World Cup.

Hendry has never won the German Open and has yet to reach the final, and he is still smarting from last weekend's 10-6 UK defeat by Ronnie O'Sullivan - his fourth successive defeat in a major final since last April.

O'Sullivan takes aim at Germany glory in the final ranking event of 1997 just eight days after his coronation as UK champion. Today, the world number two faces Thailand's James Wattana in the last 16 stage.

The 22-year-old who lifted the trophy 12 months ago when the tournament was held at the British Army base in Osnabruck hopes to complete another title winning campaign.

O'Sullivan said: "I should be able to relax having won the UK Championship. But I know I'm the man they are all out to beat and James will be no different. We've had some good battles in the past and he's beaten me almost as many times as I've beaten him."

Last year's German Open runner-up, French Canadian Alain Robidoux, failed to qualify for the overseas stages. Other big names brought down in the final qualifying round at Hereford were Mark Williams, Peter Ebdon, Nigel Bond, Alan McManus, Steve Davies and Darren Morgan.

Draw: R O'Sullivan (Eng) v J Wattana (Tha), T Drago (Mlt) v Q Hann (Aus), J Ferguson (Eng) v A Hamilton (Eng), M Clark (Eng) v J Higgins (Sco), S Hendry (Sco) v J White (Eng), S Lee (Eng) v J Parrott (Eng), G Wilkinson (Eng) v J Burnett (Sco); S Ali (Pak) v K Doherty (Irl). Today's order of play: 1400: Drago v Hann; 1900: O'Sullivan v Wattana.