Marco Fu reached the last 64 of the German Masters with a 5-1 defeat of Mark Selby as the popular ranking event commenced in Berlin on Monday.
Fu, a finalist in 2013, won the first four frames to reach the mid-session interval at the Tempodrom 4-0 in front.
Selby briefly rallied, the world number five winning the fifth frame to slightly prolong the held-over fixture from qualifying.
But a break of 98 from Fu in the sixth frame sealed his place in the next round, as he looks to revive his professional career.
The 46 year-old is competing this term through an invitational tour card and is hoping to challenge for titles again, having not reached the last eight of a ranking tournament since 2020.
“I felt pretty good coming into this match,” three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu told the World Snooker Tour.
“But Mark never really got going today. I was having quite a lot of lucky breaks – missing shots and getting away with it, and fluking a few balls.”
“Mark didn’t really get going until after the interval, but I was 4-0 up already.
“I didn’t feel like I played that well, to be honest. But sometimes the balls just run for you all the way through the match.
“You need to take advantage of the lucky shots, but any win over Mark is a great win, so I need to give a little bit of credit to myself. Very happy.”
With the increased field at the venue for this year’s German Masters, there are now seven tables inside the Tempodrom.
Despite the unique set up, with six tables surrounding the main TV one in the centre of the arena, Fu wasn’t distracted.
“I found it quite entertaining. When I’m playing the shot, obviously I have to concentrate on the shot.”
“But when I’m sitting down on the chair, sometimes looking around and watching other players playing is not too bad for me.
“It’s a little bit of entertainment for me, watching other matches. It didn’t really affect my concentration. When it’s my turn at the table, I concentrated really well.
“This season, I’ve been playing quite well overall. Sometimes there were a few tough defeats, losing 4-3 or 5-4, on the black, on the pink sometimes.
“It’s kind of hard to take, some of the defeats. But overall, I think standard-wise I’m pretty happy with the way I’ve been playing.
“Hopefully, I can have a good run this week. It’s a great tournament, I love playing in Berlin.”
There were plenty of other shocks on the first day in Berlin with Luca Brecel and Shaun Murphy also crashing out.
Brecel’s miserable season as the world champion continued as he was outplayed in a 5-2 defeat to tour rookie Ishpreet Singh Chadha.
Murphy, meanwhile, squandered a 3-0 advantage as he exited in a 5-3 reverse to Xu Si – who compiled a terrific 131 in the penultimate frame.
The other members from the top eight who had their round-of-128 fixtures held over managed to emerge unscathed, however.
Defending champion Ali Carter and world number three Mark Allen prevailed from nine-frame thrillers against Michael White and Manasawin Phetmalaikul respectively.
It was more straightforward for Judd Trump and Neil Robertson, with Trump thrashing home favourite Lukas Kleckers 5-0 and Robertson producing one of his best displays of the campaign to beat Sanderson Lam.
Among those who have already reached the last 32 are Graeme Dott, Matthew Selt, Joe O’Connor, Sam Craigie, and Jamie Clarke.
2024 German Masters draw
Round of 128 (bo9)
Ali Carter 5-4 Michael White
Peng Yisong 5-4 Alfie Burden
Pang Junxu 5-2 Jimmy White
Haydon Pinhey 5-3 Rod Lawler
Zak Surety 5-3 Jack Lisowski
Alexander Ursenbacher 5-0 Ma Hailong
Hossein Vafaei 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
Elliot Slessor 5-2 Iulian Boiko
Sam Craigie 5-2 Sean O’Sullivan
Liam Pullen 5-1 Stuart Bingham
He Guoqiang 5-4 John Astley
Mark Williams 5-3 David Grace
Graeme Dott 5-3 Victor Sarkis
Ashley Carty 5-2 Noppon Saengkham
Andrew Higginson 5-4 Jiang Jun
Shaun Murphy 3-5 Xu Si
Mark Allen 5-4 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Louis Heathcote 5-1 Andy Lee
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Rebecca Kenna
Joe O’Connor 5-2 Andy Hicks
John Higgins 5-3 Daniel Wells
Martin Gould 5-4 James Cahill
Zhou Yuelong 5-4 Jak Jones
Tian Pengfei 5-4 Reanne Evans
Jamie Clarke 5-3 Hammad Miah
Scott Donaldson 5-4 Gary Wilson
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-1 Jamie Jones
Zhang Anda 5-3 Mostafa Dorgham
Martin O’Donnell 5-2 Himanshu Dain
Matthew Selt 5-4 Dylan Emery
Matthew Stevens 5-3 Anton Kazakov
Judd Trump 5-0 Lukas Kleckers
Barry Pinches 2-5 Julien Leclercq
Ken Doherty 5-0 Jenson Kendrick
David Gilbert 5-0 Dean Young
Jordan Brown 5-4 Long Zehuang
Robert Milkins 5-4 Allan Taylor
Robbie Williams 5-3 Jackson Page
Ryan Day 5-3 Stan Moody
Oliver Brown 5-0 Andres Petrov
Andrew Pagett 5-3 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Chris Wakelin 5-3 Mohamed Ibrahim
Aaron Hill 5-3 Muhammad Asif
Yuan Sijun 5-2 Ding Junhui
Mark Joyce 5-1 Wu Yize
Si Jiahui 5-4 Lyu Haotian
Alfie Davies 5-4 Sydney Wilson
Mark Selby 1-5 Marco Fu
Neil Robertson 5-1 Sanderson Lam
Jimmy Robertson 5-3 Liam Highfield
Joe Perry 5-0 Ryan Thomerson
Xing Zihao 5-1 Ross Muir
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Oliver Lines
Ben Woollaston 5-1 Anthony Hamilton
Ricky Walden 5-1 Adam Duffy
David Lilley 5-2 Liam Graham
Xiao Guodong 5-1 Ian Burns
Tom Ford 5-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Mark Davis 5-2 Ashley Hugill
Barry Hawkins 5-2 Stuart Carrington
Ben Mertens 5-3 Rory Thor
Fan Zhengyi 5-1 Cao Yupeng
Liu Hongyu 5-0 Dominic Dale
Luca Brecel 2-5 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Round of 64 (bo9)
Ali Carter 5-1 Peng Yisong
Pang Junxu 5-1 Haydon Pinhey
Zak Surety 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Elliot Slessor w/o Hossein Vafaei
Sam Craigie 5-2 Liam Pullen
He Guoqiang 5-1 Mark Williams
Graeme Dott 5-2 Ashley Carty
Andrew Higginson 2-5 Xu Si
Mark Allen 5-2 Louis Heathcote
Stephen Maguire 3-5 Joe O’Connor
John Higgins w/o Martin Gould
Zhou Yuelong 5-0 Tian Pengfei
Jamie Clarke 5-2 Scott Donaldson
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-4 Zhang Anda
Martin O’Donnell 0-5 Matthew Selt
Matthew Stevens 3-5 Judd Trump
Julien Leclercq 5-3 Ken Doherty
David Gilbert 2-5 Jordan Brown
Robert Milkins 5-2 Robbie Williams
Ryan Day 5-3 Oliver Brown
Andrew Pagett 5-3 Chris Wakelin
Aaron Hill 1-5 Yuan Sijun
Mark Joyce 1-5 Si Jiahui
Alfie Davies 5-1 Marco Fu
Neil Robertson 5-0 Jimmy Robertson
Joe Perry 5-1 Xing Zihao
Kyren Wilson 5-1 Ben Woollaston
Ricky Walden 4-5 David Lilley
Xiao Guodong 1-5 Tom Ford
Mark Davis 5-1 Barry Hawkins
Ben Mertens 3-5 Fan Zhengyi
Liu Hongyu 3-5 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Round of 32 (bo9)
Ali Carter 5-2 Pang Junxu
Zak Surety 5-2 Elliot Slessor
Sam Craigie 5-1 He Guoqiang
Graeme Dott 4-5 Xu Si
Mark Allen 5-2 Joe O’Connor
John Higgins 5-3 Zhou Yuelong
Jamie Clarke 1-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Matthew Selt 2-5 Judd Trump
Julien Leclercq 5-1 Jordan Brown
Robert Milkins 1-5 Ryan Day
Andrew Pagett 1-5 Yuan Sijun
Si Jiahui 5-1 Alfie Davies
Neil Robertson 5-1 Joe Perry
Kyren Wilson 5-1 David Lilley
Tom Ford 5-2 Mark Davis
Fan Zhengyi 5-2 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Round of 16 (bo9)
Ali Carter 5-0 Zak Surety
Sam Craigie 5-4 Xu Si
Mark Allen 2-5 John Higgins
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-5 Judd Trump
Julien Leclercq 2-5 Ryan Day
Yuan Sijun 3-5 Si Jiahui
Neil Robertson 3-5 Kyren Wilson
Tom Ford 3-5 Fan Zhengyi
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Ali Carter 1-5 Sam Craigie
John Higgins 2-5 Judd Trump
Ryan Day 1-5 Si Jiahui
Kyren Wilson 5-0 Fan Zhengyi
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Sam Craigie 2-6 Judd Trump
Si Jiahui 6-3 Kyren Wilson
Final (bo19)
Judd Trump 10-5 Si Jiahui
Featured photo credit: WST
Shaun Murphy won’t have too many accountancy issues waiting weeks for his pay from this tournament. Al
A good win in terms of opponent for Marco Fu who hasn’t strung many wins together this term playing as a wildcard. Hopefully this result puts more of a spring in his step for matchplay. Quite a few big names won’t be continuing in Germany again even with a more favourable qualification system. The reigning world champion is having a comparable season to Marco Fu having said all that: most players up their game to play against him and his game isn’t there.