Former winner Ken Doherty blazed his way through to the first round of the Betfred.com World Championship and revealed Steve Davis was inspiring him to turn his career around.

Doherty made short work of beating his good friend and fellow 40-year-old Joe Swail 10-1 in the final round of qualifying.

The Dubliner, who beat Stephen Hendry in the 1997 Crucible final, opened up an 8-1 lead in the first session and swiftly converted that into victory to seal his place in Thursday's draw for the televised stages.

Doherty failed to qualify for the World Championship last year but his relishing his 17th visit as a player.

"I missed it terribly. I was in tears almost last year when I lost. I didn't know where my game was going and it was a real down time for me," he said.

"I always thought it was a premature end, it couldn't be like that and I had a lot more to offer."

Davis, at 52, will be appearing at the home of snooker for the 30th time after beating Adrian Gunnell yesterday and the six-time world champion continues to amaze.

Doherty said: "You look at Steve Davis and the way he played yesterday and he's five or six years older than Jimmy White and John Parrott. You could take a lot of leaves out of Steve Davis' book.

"I take a lot of inspiration from the likes of Steve and Jimmy. They're great characters, they've been great players and ambassadors and have a great determination and grit - and that was obvious the way Steve qualified and how Jimmy keeps coming back for more."