Marco Fu

In his first season as a professional, he was ranked 377th in the world.

He reached the final of the Grand Prix, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 5–2 and then Peter Ebdon 5–3.

Stephen Lee defeated him 2–9 in the final.

Marco Fu Ka-chun, MH, JP ( born 8 January 1978) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player.

Marco Fu was born on 8 January 1978 in British Hong Kong.

He began playing snooker at age nine, but did not do so regularly until he was 15.

Fu migrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his parents at age 12.

After his high school graduation at age 18, Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council Co. Ltd. President Joseph Lo invited him to return to Hong Kong to begin his career as a professional snooker player.

Before turning professional, Fu won the IBSF World Snooker Championship and the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship, both in 1997.

He turned professional in 1998 and has remained on the World Snooker Tour to-date.

Despite not competing in events during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fu was given an invitational place to remain on the tour during the 2021–22 snooker season.

As a prolific break-builder, Fu has compiled over 500 century breaks in professional competition, including five maximum breaks.

A cultural icon in Hong Kong, Fu presented a 10-episode chat show called Marco Fu and Friends on ViuTV.

After winning these tournaments, Fu turned professional for the 1998–99 snooker season.

During the rest of the 1998–99 season, Fu qualified for four more ranking tournaments, including the 1999 World Snooker Championship, winning four qualifying matches before losing to James Wattana 8–10 in the first round of the main draw.

He was voted World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) Newcomer of the Year and WSA Young Player of the Year in 1999.

In the 1999–00 season, with Fu now ranked 35th in the world, he received automatic entry into the main draw of most of the ranking tournaments.

Although he failed to repeat the success of reaching the final of the Grand Prix, he made a run to the quarter-finals before losing to Ali Carter.

Other achievements of note include reaching the semi-finals of the 2000 Malta Grand Prix and the Scottish Open.

Following a dramatic rise, in the 2000–01 season Fu was ranked 15th in the world, his first appearance in the top 16.

However, a succession of defeats and a first-round loss at the 2001 World Snooker Championship to Chris Small, saw him fall out of the top 16 for the next season.

In the 2001–02 season Fu's best result was a last 16 appearance at the LG Cup.

He failed to qualify for three ranking events, including the 2002 World Snooker Championship, and, as a result, his ranking fell to 27 for the following season.

Prior to the 2003 Welsh Open, his best result of the 2002–03 season was reaching the third round of the 2002 UK Championship in December 2002.

However, at the Welsh Open in February, Fu defeated Stephen Lee 5–0 in the second round and beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 5–3 in the quarter-finals before losing his semi-final 4–6 to Stephen Hendry, who went on to win the title.

Going into the 2003 World Snooker Championship three months later, after first round losses at the European and Scottish Opens, he drew world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round.

Snooker Scene later described the match between O'Sullivan and Fu as "one of the greatest upsets in the history of the game".

Fu held a 6–3 overnight lead and, despite O'Sullivan making a maximum break, Fu won 10–6.

Fu subsequently eliminated Alan McManus 13–7 in the second round, before losing 7–13 to Stephen Lee in his quarter-final match.

Later that year, Fu won his first professional title at the invitational Premier League, beating Mark Williams 9–5 in the final.

As a result of his run to the quarter-finals of the World Championship the previous season, Fu climbed to number 19 in the world rankings for the 2003–04 season.

He qualified for all the ranking tournaments except the World Championship.

His best result included a third round loss to Michael Holt in the LG Cup and reaching the semi-finals of the Welsh Open, beating Liu Song, Matthew Stevens, Ken Doherty and Stephen Hendry before succumbing to Steve Davis.

In addition, Fu has reached the semi-finals of the World Championship twice—in 2006 and in 2016.

He is a three-time ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open and the 2016 Scottish Open.

He has been a runner-up at two Triple Crown events, at the 2008 UK Championship and the 2011 Masters.

Fu finished the season ranked 16th in the world.

His best result the following season was a quarter-final loss to Ding Junhui at the China Open.

He finished the season ranked 25, falling nine places.

Fu reached a career-high ranking of fifth in the world in 2017.