The first competitive outing for Marco Fu since 2020 ended in a narrow defeat at the World Championship qualifiers on Tuesday.
The three-time ranking event winner was edged out in a close encounter with Ian Burns, 6-5.
Fu hadn’t played on the Main Tour since the Welsh Open more than two years ago as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Utilising his option to compete under an invitational tour card for the first time, the Hong Kong cueist certainly didn’t disgrace himself.
Indeed, the 44 year-old gallantly fought back from 3-0 and 5-3 down to force a decider, compiling a break of 122 in the process.
But Burns managed to hold on at the end to clinch victory with a run of 73, having earlier compiled a terrific 141 total clearance in the second frame.
Elsewhere on day two at the English Institute of Sport, there were defeats at the opening hurdle for former women’s world champions Reanne Evans and Ng On Yee.
The latter began her clash with Rory McLeod brightly with a tidy break of 97, but last weekend’s Winchester Women’s Open champion could only muster one more frame in a 6-2 reverse.
Evans lost by the same margin to Lee Walker in a low-scoring and scrappy affair that boasted only one sizable contribution.
Among the others to progress to the second qualifying round were amateurs James Cahill, David Lilley, Daniell Wells, and Sanderson Lam.
Barry Pinches, Yuan Sijun, and Dean Young secured respective 6-3 triumphs over Lee Stephens, Ross Muir, and Ben Hancorn.
Peter Devlin and Jamie Wilson were the other winners in Sheffield, maintaining the pair’s faint hopes of tour survival alive.
On Wednesday, the action will continue with the first qualifying round set to reach its climax before the second stage gets under way in the evening session.
World Snooker Championship Qualifying Draw
Round 1 (Bo11)
Zhao Jianbo 4-6 Michael Judge
Alfie Burden 4-6 Robbie McGuigan
Duane Jones 6-2 Nutcharut Wongharuthai
Xu Si 6-4 Michael Collumb
Zhang Jiankang 6-4 John Astley
Zhang Anda 6-0 Anton Kazakov
Fraser Patrick 1-6 Michael White
Aaron Hill 4-6 Liam James Davies
Lukas Kleckers 6-3 Soheil Vahedi
Andrew Pagett 6-2 Jimmy White
Hammad Miah 6-3 Chen Zifan
Louis Heathcote 6-5 Ben Mertens
Craig Steadman 4-6 David Lilley
Lee Walker 6-2 Reanne Evans
Barry Pinches 6-3 Lee Stephens
Ben Hancorn 3-6 Dean Young
Rory McLeod 6-2 Ng On Yee
Ian Burns 6-5 Marco Fu
Peter Devlin 6-1 Yorrit Hoes
Jamie Wilson 6-2 Jake Crofts
Chang Bingyu 5-6 Daniel Wells
Peter Lines 5-6 Sanderson Lam
Jamie O’Neill 4-6 James Cahill
Yuan Sijun 6-3 Ross Muir
Mitchell Mann vs Dylan Emery
(Apr 6, 2:30pm)
Gerard Greene vs Rebecca Kenna
(Apr 6, 2:30pm)
Jackson Page vs Sean O’Sullivan
(Apr 6, 2:30pm)
Iulian Boiko vs Michael Georgiou
(Apr 6, 2:30pm)
Farakh Ajaib vs Mark Lloyd
(Apr 6, 9:30am)
Zak Surety vs Si Jiahui
(Apr 6, 9:30am)
Lei Peifan vs Sean Maddocks
(Apr 6, 9:30am)
Wu Yize vs Bai Langning
(Apr 6, 9:30am)
Round 2 (Bo11)
1. Allan Taylor vs Michael Judge
(Apr 6, 7:30pm)
2. Scott Donaldson vs Robbie McGuigan
(Apr 6, 7:30pm)
3. Dominic Dale vs Duane Jones
(Apr 6, 7:30pm)
4. Lyu Haotian vs Xu Si
(Apr 6, 7:30pm)
5. Sunny Akani vs Zhang Jiankang
(Apr 7, 9:30am)
6. Andy Hicks vs Zhang Anda
(Apr 7, 9:30am)
7. Martin O’Donnell vs Michael White
(Apr 7, 9:30am)
8. Fergal O’Brien vs Liam James Davies
(Apr 7, 9:30am)
9. Nigel Bond vs Lukas Kleckers
(Apr 7, 7:30pm)
10. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Un-Nooh vs Andrew Pagett
(Apr 7, 7:30pm)
11. Michael Holt vs Hammad Miah
(Apr 7, 7:30pm)
12. Mark Joyce vs Louis Heathcote
(Apr 7, 7:30pm)
13. Robbie Williams vs David Lilley
(Apr 7, 2:30pm)
14. Tian Pengfei vs Lee Walker
(Apr 7, 2:30pm)
15. Joe O’Connor vs Barry Pinches
(Apr 7, 2:30pm)
16. Ashley Hugill vs Dean Young
(Apr 7, 2:30pm)
17. Ken Doherty vs Rory McLeod
(Apr 8, 7:30pm)
18. Elliot Slessor vs Ian Burns
(Apr 8, 7:30pm)
19. Oliver Lines vs Peter Devlin
(Apr 8, 7:30pm)
20. Chris Wakelin vs Jamie Wilson
(Apr 8, 7:30pm)
21. Andrew Higginson vs Daniel Wells
(Apr 8, 9:30am)
22. Cao Yupeng vs Sanderson Lam
(Apr 8, 9:30am)
23. Mark Davis vs James Cahill
(Apr 8, 9:30am)
24. Steven Hallworth vs Yuan Sijun
(Apr 8, 9:30am)
25. Gao Yang vs Mann/Emery
(Apr 8, 2:30pm)
26. Matthew Stevens vs Greene/Kenna
(Apr 8, 2:30pm)
27. Ashley Carty vs Page/S. O’Sullivan
(Apr 8, 2:30pm)
28. David Grace vs Boiko/Georgiou
(Apr 8, 2:30pm)
29. Pang Junxu vs Ajaib/Lloyd
(Apr 9, 10:30am)
30. Jamie Clarke vs Surety/Si
(Apr 9, 10:30am)
31. Stuart Carrington vs Lei/Maddocks
(Apr 9, 10:30am)
32. Simon Lichtenberg vs Wu/Bai
(Apr 9, 10:30am)
Round 3 (Bo11)
33. Ricky Walden vs winner of match 1
(Apr 9, 2:30pm)
34. Li Hang vs winner of match 2
(Apr 9, 2:30pm)
35. Liang Wenbo (pending appeal) vs winner of match 3
(Apr 9, 2:30pm)
36. Lu Ning vs winner of match 4
(Apr 9, 2:30pm)
37. Stephen Maguire vs winner of match 5
(Apr 9, 7:30pm)
38. Zhou Yuelong vs winner of match 6
(Apr 9, 7:30pm)
39. Mark King vs winner of match 7
(Apr 9, 7:30pm)
40. Jordan Brown vs winner of match 8
(Apr 9, 7:30pm)
41. Matthew Selt vs winner of match 9
(Apr 10, 10:30am)
42. Jak Jones vs winner of match 10
(Apr 10, 10:30am)
43. Tom Ford vs winner of match 11
(Apr 10, 10:30am)
44. Jamie Jones vs winner of match 12
(Apr 10, 10:30am)
45. Kurt Maflin vs winner of match 13
(Apr 10, 7:30pm)
46. Ding Junhui vs winner of match 14
(Apr 10, 7:30pm)
47. Ben Woollaston vs winner of match 15
(Apr 10, 7:30pm)
48. Martin Gould vs winner of match 16
(Apr 10, 7:30pm)
49. David Gilbert vs winner of match 17
(Apr 10, 2:30pm)
50. Anthony Hamilton vs winner of match 18
(Apr 10, 2:30pm)
51. Jimmy Robertson vs winner of match 19
(Apr 10, 2:30pm)
52. Fan Zhengyi vs winner of match 20
(Apr 10, 2:30pm)
53. Noppon Saengkham vs winner of match 21
(Apr 11, 2:30pm)
54. Robert Milkins vs winner of match 22
(Apr 11, 2:30pm)
55. Liam Highfield vs winner of match 23
(Apr 11, 2:30pm)
56. Ryan Day vs winner of match 24
(Apr 11, 2:30pm)
57. Ali Carter vs winner of match 25
(Apr 11, 7:30pm)
58. Sam Craigie vs winner of match 26
(Apr 11, 7:30pm)
59. Joe Perry vs winner of match 27
(Apr 11, 7:30pm)
60. Xiao Guodong vs winner of match 28
(Apr 11, 7:30pm)
61. Graeme Dott vs winner of match 29
(Apr 11, 10:30am)
62. Gary Wilson vs winner of match 30
(Apr 11, 10:30am)
63. Alexander Ursenbacher vs winner of match 31
(Apr 11, 10:30am)
64. Hossein Vafaei vs winner of match 32
(Apr 11, 10:30am)
Round 4 (Bo19)
Tuesday, Apr 12 at 11am and 5pm
winner of match 33 vs winner of match 34
winner of match 35 vs winner of match 36
winner of match 37 vs winner of match 38
winner of match 39 vs winner of match 40
winner of match 41 vs winner of match 42
winner of match 43 vs winner of match 44
winner of match 45 vs winner of match 46
winner of match 47 vs winner of match 48
Wednesday, Apr 13 at 11am ad 5pm
winner of match 49 vs winner of match 50
winner of match 51 vs winner of match 52
winner of match 53 vs winner of match 54
winner of match 55 vs winner of match 56
winner of match 57 vs winner of match 58
winner of match 59 vs winner of match 60
winner of match 61 vs winner of match 62
winner of match 63 vs winner of match 64
Live coverage of the World Snooker Championship qualifiers will be available across Europe on the Eurosport App.
Viewer in all other territories – other than China – will have the option to subscribe to Matchroom.Live.
Featured photo credit: WST
