Fu crushes Ebdon, Bingham shocked by Carter at snooker worlds

Marco Fu breezed past former winner Peter Ebdon 10-2 while two-time runner-up Ali Carter shocked defending champion Stuart Bingham in the first round of the snooker world championship in Sheffield on Saturday.

Fu, ranked 14th in the world, strolled through to a last 16 tie with Shaun Murphy or Anthony McGill. Fu hasn't been past the second round since he was edged by Ebdon 17-16 in the semifinals in 2006.

Two-time ranking event winner Fu went ahead 6-2 and scored four frames in a row to seal the result.

"My long potting was really good today and I scored well when I got chances," said Fu. "I'm playing much better than I did in previous years, so you never know what's going to happen. I truly believe that I'm a top eight player and today's performance will give me a lot of confidence. I believe I can win it."

Ebdon, the 2002 champion, said: "I would have liked to have had a few more chances, but Marco shut me out. He was excellent."

Carter saw an 8-5 lead disappear in the evening session but won the last two frames to end Bingham's reign.

Bingham's 88 and 113 clearance gave him a 9-8 lead, before Carter's century forced a tense decider which he won.

"I'm gutted to be going back home," said Bingham. "I battled to 9-8 and missed a couple of chances to wrap the game up. Fair play to Ali, it just wasn't meant to be for me." Endi