Mark Selby hopes an extended spell in China will help him steal a march on his rivals when the new season gets under way on Tuesday.

The world No.7 opens his account in the Roewe Shanghai Masters with a tricky first-round clash against Basildon's Stuart Bingham.

But an extra 10 days helping governing body World Snooker promote the sport in the Far East could play into the Jester from Leicester's hands as he will have had longer to acclimatise to the humid conditions.

The rest of the players will only have had a couple of days to get over their jet lag having just landed,

Selby, who arrived in China eight days ago, knows that could be to his advantage.

He said: "Having had longer to get used to the conditions over here is a massive bonus, they could play a crucial part in how the tournament pans out.

"When I've been practising this past week in places that have had decent air conditioning, it has still been really clammy and sticky.

"It's hard work when it's like that, because your cue action is not as smooth as you're used to and you can really suffer.

"I don't know what the air con will be like when we get to the Grand Stage, the tournament venue, but it could be even worse than what I've been playing in this week.

"You've got to get on with it because it's the same for everyone, but at least I've had a head start on most of the others and that could play right into my hands."

Selby was a semi-finalist in Shanghai last year and will start as favourite to beat world No.21 Bingham in the best-of-nine frames clash.

However, he is not underestimating his opponent – who gave Ronnie O'Sullivan a scare in the first round of the World Championships in April – and hopes victory will be the first step towards a decent run in the first ranking tournament of the season.

"The promotional work with World Snooker has taken up most of my time each day, and it has been quite tiring," said Selby, who lost to eventual champion Ricky Walden in the semis last year.

"I've been able to pick up the odd hour of practice each day, but I will really be able to knuckle down over the next few days and start putting the hours in."