English Open: Marco Fu’s run halted – but it’s his best ranking tournament in years
- Hongkonger had already gone his furthest in a ranking event since January 2020, before being beaten by Barry Hawkins
- Snooker Shoot Out in January comes next for the recent Hong Kong Masters finalist, whose first opponent will be Chinese teenager Lei Peifan
Hong Kong snooker ace Marco Fu Ka-chun has crashed out of the English Open – but not before recording his best ranking tournament progress in almost three years.
A third-round loss to Barry Hawkins on Thursday ended Fu’s involvement after the three-time ranking tournament winner had whitewashed amateur Lewis Ullah and dispatched higher-ranked Jimmy Robertson and Peter Lines.
He was well matched on paper with his last-32 opponent Hawkins: their head-to-head record read nine wins apiece, with Hawkins edging Fu 81-80 in frames won during their encounters.
But Fu, who has been largely absent from the circuit during the pandemic, quickly found himself in a hole as the world No 13 turned breaks of 89 and 127 into a 3-0 lead.
Needing to win a frame to keep himself in the game, the Hongkonger did just that before the interval. And the 44-year-old then picked up where he left off as he returned to produce a 111 break, moving within a frame of the tournament’s ninth seed.
It was not to be for Fu as a break of 50 from Hawkins sealed a 4-2 victory. Nor was it to be for “The Hawk”, who was later knocked out by Mark Williams in the last 16.