Marco Fu makes early German Masters exit after going down to David Gilbert in opening round

World number eight Marco Fu Ka-chun made a disappointing first round exit at the German Masters in Berlin on Thursday night extending a blip in form since his Masters exploits last month.

Fu fell at the first hurdle of the HK$583,000 ranking tournament after a 5-3 loss to England’s David Gilbert.

It was the Hong Kong player’s second straight loss since his sensational run to the semi-finals of the Masters where he was beaten by eventual winner Ronnie O’Sullivan.

He suffered a shock defeat in the first qualifying round of the China Open in Preston last week when he went down to world number 67 Daniel Wells 3-5.

The 39-year-old Fu struggled to get into a rhythm against Gilbert despite leading a back-and-forth match three times. At 3-3 Gilbert hit breaks of 51 and 70 to secure the win and advance into round two.