Marco Fu completed one of the best comebacks of recent years at the Crucible to defeat Luca Brecel 10-9 and reach the second round of the Betfred World Championship.
The Hong Kong potter looked down and out after the opening session. He trailed 7-1, although he did make a century run of 105 to reduce his arrears to 7-2 at the close of play.
Brecel became the youngest ever World Championship competitor in 2012 aged 17. This was the Belgian's first appearance at the Crucible since – but his return ended in heartbreak as Fu overturned a significant deficit.
The Scottish Open Champion immediately applied pressure this evening, bursting out of the blocks with runs of 75 and 83 to pull within three frames at 7-4.
That became 8-5 at the mid-session and when they returned Fu continued to push the Belgian hard. He claimed three frames on the bounce and levelled the scores at 8-8. However, Brecel showed his resolve to respond with a run of 78 to move one from the win at 9-8.
Fu wasn't to be denied and compiled breaks of 85, 46 and 56 to cross the line and complete the comeback in the first match of this year's Championship to go to a deciding frame.
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