China's Lyu upsets Fu to reach last 16 at snooker worlds

LONDON, April 22 (Xinhua) -- China's Lyu Haotian scored a surprise 10-5 victory over Marco Fu in his first appearance at the final stages of the World Championship in Sheffield on Sunday.

Fu, who has missed the last three months after undergoing laser eye surgery for retinal degeneration, trailed 6-3 after Saturday's first session and failed to score a point in the first two frames Sunday night as 68th-ranked Lyu extended his advantage to 8-3.

A run of 49 gave Fu frame 12 and he then found some rhythm with a 120 in the next to close to 8-5 at the interval. But there was to be no fight back as Lyu compiled breaks of 79 and 61 to win the last two frames.

The 20-year-old Lyu, the lowest-ranked player at the worlds, now faces Barry Hawkins or Stuart Carrington in the last 16 at the Crucible.

"I'm very happy to win, it was a really enjoyable match," said Lyu. "I'm happy to have been able to perform well. I was expecting to be nervous on my debut, but it turned out to be very enjoyable. I know Marco was not feeling well about his eyes so maybe that affected his performance and contributed to the result.

"I just hope to continue to give this kind of performance in the next round. I never think about winning the tournament, I just want to play well, especially at this venue."

Fu, a three ranking events winner, said: "Overall, between the two sessions, Lyu was by far the stronger player so 10-5 is a fair score. Lyu was superb. I've played at the Crucible as a 20-year-old myself and I know how difficult it is, but for him it was just like practice. He rose to the occasion, and I think he played even better here at the Crucible than he did in the qualifiers.

"My eyes are good, it didn't really affect my game. I just lost to a better player, simple as that. I've got a few months off now so I'll probably take a rest and have a few checkups. I will be back next season. This tournament came a bit too soon for me because I really lack match practice. I would have loved to have had one more tournament before coming here but the timing just wasn't right."

In the day's other games, five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan overhauled Stephen Maguire's three-frame overnight lead to come through a 10-7 winner. Two-time runner-up Ali Carter recovered a 6-2 deficit to beat Graeme Dott 10-8. Enditem