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Marco Fu

Fu’s fans had little to cheer during the 2009/10 season, especially in ranking events as he lost his opening match in four of the six tournaments.
The only matches he won were in China – he got to the last 16 of the Roewe Shanghai Masters and the quarter-finals of the Sanyuan Foods China Open. At the latter he beat Bjorn Haneveer and Nigel Bond before losing to eventual champion Mark Williams.
The Betfred.com World Snooker Championship saw Fu facing Martin Gould, and the Hong Kong cueman suffered an agonising 10-9 defeat. That meant a fall of six places down the ranking list to No 14.
However, there was a taste of success for Fu in the Championship League, as he won the event to book a place in the prestigious Premier League. After coming through the round robin phase in the winners’ group, he beat Stephen Maguire 3-0 in the semi-finals then came from 2-0 down to beat Mark Allen 3-2 in the final.
“Qualifying for the Premier League is a very special moment for me as everyone wants to play in the league," said Fu, who beat Mark Williams in the 2003 Premier League final. "Only the top players can play in it and with it being live on television it is a very prestigious competition.”
Fu came within a frame of landing the biggest title of his career at the 2008 UK Championship. Up against Shaun Murphy in the final, he came from 8-6 down to lead 9-8, but Murphy levelled the match then edged the deciding frame, helped by a fluke on the pink off the penultimate red. "Even at 9-8 up I didn't feel settled," admitted Fu. "I was out of sorts all day. I'm disappointed to lose although I can take some positives from this tournament."
Fu would certainly have been considered as a contender for the unwanted title of ‘best player never to win a ranking event’ until he won the 2007 Grand Prix in Aberdeen.
After beating the likes of Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui in the initial round robin phase, Fu went on to knock out John Higgins, Liu Song and Gerard Greene so set up a final clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The Rocket was considered favourite – but Fu has a tendency to bring out his best form against the biggest names, and so it proved again as he played the finest snooker of his career in a 9-6 victory .His 60 clearance from 58-0 behind to win the 14th frame was one of the best breaks of the season, and Fu needed just one chance in the next frame to seal the match, making a cool 76.
”There was a period of two to three years when I was struggling to get to the last 16 of tournaments, let alone win one,” admitted Fu. “In the last two years I’ve felt good because I knew my game was heading in the right direction. I’ve made a lot of technical changes and it has taken me a while to get used to them. Ronnie has been my idol in snooker and he tends to bring the best out of me because I always know it will be a quick and open game. I’ve never played better than I did tonight.”
At the 2006 World Championship, the man from Happy Valley knocked out Alan McManus, Stephen Maguire and Ken Doherty to reach the semi-finals. He then came from 15-9 down to 16-16 against Peter Ebdon only for a tearful Ebdon to take the last frame with a nerveless break of 54.
Fu first grabbed the attention of the snooker world in 1998 when he beat seven players, including Ebdon and O’Sullivan, to reach the final of the Grand Prix, where he went down 9-2 to Lee.
The jet-setting Manchester United fan was educated in Vancouver and has had spells living in Wales and Scotland, and now often stays in London with girlfriend Shirley. He enjoys the music of Avril Lavigne.

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