Long wait over as Marco Fu proves good as gold

Hong Kong's Marco Fu Ka-chun saved his best for last as he secured only the second ranking tournament win of his career by defeating world No. 1 Neil Robertson 9-6 in yesterday's Australian Goldfields Open final in Bendigo, Victoria.

"Winning this has taken a lot of pressure off me because I came so close to winning last season and it was frustrating not to win," said Fu, whose last major victory came at the London Grand Prix in 2007.

"So many frames could have gone either way today. Neil is a very tough player to beat. He wasn't at his best and we got a bit tired coming into the final. I am very pleased I got that clearance at the very end," said the world No. 18.

Fu was talking about the masterful 102 break in the 15th frame that gave him the title as he forced Australian Robertson to play catch-up in the best-of-17 frame final.

"Thanks to the support of the crowd and everybody at home who might be watching," said the 35-year-old Fu, who won A$70,000 (HK$492,000).

Robertson, the 2010 world champion, said Fu deserved the title. "He played fantastic all week and he definitely deserved to win today," said the 31-year-old from Melbourne. "All credit to Marco. I was very pleased to get into the final, but Marco played well and he had that clearance in the end, which made the difference. I was always playing catch-up."