Marco_Fu

Marco Fu

Fu Ka-chun (Chinese name: 傅家俊 born January 8, 1978), best known in Western media as Marco Fu, is a professional snooker player from Hong Kong, China. He currently resides in Happy Valley, Hong Kong. He is best known for winning the 2007 Snooker Grand Prix, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final, and for reaching the semi finals of the 2006 World Snooker Championship.

Life and career

Early career

Marco Fu started playing snooker at the age of nine, but did not start playing regularly until he was 15. Fu was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada with his parents at the age of 12. After his high school graduation at age 18, Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council Co. Ltd President Joseph Lo invited him to return to Hong Kong to begin his career as a professional snooker player. Before turning professional, Fu won the Asian Amateur, World Amateur and World Under-21 Championships.

First year as a professional

In 1998, the year he turned professional, Fu reached the final of the Grand Prix, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan (5-4) and then Peter Ebdon (6-1) in the process. An in-form Stephen Lee proved too strong for Fu in the final, defeating him 9-2, but Fu nevertheless rose dramatically through the rankings, reaching number 15 in the world for the 2000/01 season. When he first turned professional, he was ranked 377th in the world. During the rest of the 1998/99 season, Fu qualifed for four more ranking tournaments, including the World Championship, winning four qualifying matches before losing to James Wattana 10-8 in the first round of the main draw.

He was voted WPBSA Newcomer of the Year and WSA Young Player of the Year in 1999. Tipped by many pundits as a potential champion of the game, Fu's subsequent performance was disappointing, and he slid back down the rankings.

Rise through the rankings

In the 1999/2000 season, with Fu now ranked 35 in the world, he received automatic entry into the main draw of most of the ranking tournaments. Although he failed to repeat the success of reaching the final of the Grand Prix, he made a credible run to the quarter finals before losing to Allister Carter. Other achievements of note include reaching semi finals of the Malta Grand Prix and the Scottish Open.

Fu is a prolific break-builder. He achieved his highest break of 147 in 2000 at the Regal Scottish Masters and has compiled 147 competitive century breaks during his career.

The 2000/01 season bought more good news for Fu, he was now ranked 15th in the world, his first appearance in the top 16. However a succession of defeats in the last 16 and a first round defeat in the World Snooker Championships to Chris Small saw him fall out of the top 16 for next season. The 2001/02 season was a terrible season for Fu, his best result reaching last 16 at the LG Cup. He failed to qualify for three ranking events, including the World Championship, and as a result his ranking fell to 27 for the following season, his lowest for two seasons.

The 2002/03 season bought better luck for Fu, although prior to the Welsh Open his best result was reaching the third round of the UK Championship. However, at the Welsh Open, he produced a run to the semi finals. Fu whitewashed Stephen Lee 5-0 in the quarter-finals before losing his semi-final 6-4 to Stephen Hendry, who went on to win the title.

Going into the 2003 World Championship three months later, first round losses at the European and Scottish Open suggested he would not go far in the tournament. However, Fu reached the first of his two World Championship quarter-finals to date. In what Snooker Scene magazine described as "one of the greatest upsets in the history of the game", the unseeded 25-year-old knocked out world No. 1 and runaway favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round of the tournament. Fu dominated this match from the outset, opening up a 6-3 overnight lead; and although O'Sullivan made three (including a maximum 147 break) while recovering, Fu never looked to be in trouble and won 10-6. Fu subsequently eliminated Alan McManus 13-7 in the second round before losing 13-9 to Stephen Lee in his quarter-final.

First ranking tournament title

As a result of his run to the quarter finals of the World Championship the previous season, he climbed up to number 19 for the 2003/04 season. This meant he only had to play one qualifying match to progress to the main draw of the tournaments. He qualified for all the ranking tournaments, his best results including a third round loss to Michael Holt in the LG Cup and reaching the semi finals of the Welsh Open, beating Liu Song, Matthew Stevens, Ken Doherty and Stephen Hendry before succumbing to Steve Davis. After a consistent 2003/2004 season, he regained a top 16 position for 2004/05 season, ranked 16.

The following season was less consistent, however, he qualified for all tournaments but the Malta Cup, and his best result was a quarter final loss to Ding Junhui at the China Open. He finished the season ranked 25, falling seven places. The 2005/06 season did not look better either, a series of first round defeats saw him provisionally drop out of the top 32. However, he had a good 2006 World Championship, beating three seeded players - Alan McManus 10-3, Stephen Maguire 13-4, and Ken Doherty 13-10 - to reach the semi-finals, where he lost to world no.7 and 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon 17-16. In that match, Fu was 15-9 down with only one session left to play, but won seven out of the next eight frames to send the match into the deciding frame, which Ebdon eventually won. Fu's success in this tournament can be largely attributed to working with coach Terry Griffiths. Marco had used Griffiths for a short while some years ago - but did not commit to the necessary changes in technique. This run enable him to stay in the world top 32 for next season, ranked 22.

The 2006/07 season was not hugely successful. He skipped the UK Championship

to play in the Asian games (winning two medals there), and, largely due to the fact that he was affected by a virus, was unable to repeat his World Championship form of the previous year, losing 10-3 to Anthony Hamilton in the first round, a defeat that saw Fu start the 2007/2008 season ranked 27th in the world - a drop of five places. His best result that season was a quarter final run in the China Open, where he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

The 2007/08 season was to bring his first ranking title. Following a first round loss at the Shanghai Masters and nine years after his first appearance in a ranking final at the 1998 Grand Prix, Fu won the 2007 Royal London Watches Grand Prix — his first ever victory in a ranking event. After defeating the reigning World Champion John Higgins in the first knockout round 5-4, Liu Song 5-0 in the quarter-final and Gerard Greene 6-5 in the semi-final, he faced Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final. After falling 4-3 behind at the mid-session interval, he went on to win 9-6, with a break of 76 in the final frame. Previously, Fu’s biggest title has been the invitational Hasseroder Premier League which he captured in 2003, beating Mark Williams 9-5 in the final in Sunderland. This was the first time the title went outside of the British Isles. For the rest of the season, he reached the quarter finals of the UK Championship, losing to Mark Selby; he also reached the semi finals of the Masters, losing to Stephen Lee.

He qualified for the 2008 World Championship, with a 10-3 win over Alan McManus . He played China's Ding Junhui in the first round of 2008 World Championship, and it was an emphatic fight, which he lost 10-9. He caped a successful season by finishing a career high 14 in the rankings, a climb of thirteen places from the previous season. This guaranteed Fu automatic a bye to the main draw of tournaments next season without playing qualifying matches, as well as being seeded.

Recent times

The 2008/09 season started with a last 32 loss to Barry Hawkins in the Northern Ireland Trophy. Most recently, Marco Fu crashed out in the quater-finals of the Shanghai Masters to Mark Selby. He will begin his defence of the Grand Prix title on Sunday.

Records

Fu currently holds the record for the longest frame in the history of televised snooker. The record of 77 minutes held with Mark Selby was played out during the decisive final frame during the four quarter-final match at the 2007 UK Snooker Championship held in Telford, England. Fu eventually lost the match 9-7.