MARCO FU clinched a dramatic last gasp victory over Neil Robertson to reach the quarter-finals of the Haikou World Open on Thursday.
Robertson was poised to win 5-4 but missed the final pink and Fu sank the last two balls to force a re-spotted black, which he later potted to complete the narrowest possible victory.
The Hong Kong cueman had earlier compiled three century breaks while Robertson took his tally for the season to 92 with a run of 127.
But it was ultimately a disappointing afternoon for Robertson, who has now failed to reach a ranking event quarter-final since he won the UK Championship last December.
Fu began the contest with a break of 121 and made further runs of 127 and 114 in building a 4-2 lead. Robertson won two tactical frames in pulling level but could not take advantage of several chances to complete victory.
Fu now faces Walsall’s Mark Joyce, who reached the second ranking event quarter-final of his career with a 5-3 defeat of Norway’s Kurt Maflin.
Mark Selby felt under the weather but his game looked fully fit as he completed a 5-1 defeat of Liang Wenbo with back-to-back centuries.
Resuming with a 3-1 lead after the interval, Selby contributed efforts of 135 and 131 to end the match in style.
“I’m suffering a bit with a cold and haven't been sleeping well but hopefully I'll be fresh for tomorrow,” Selby said.
The Leicester man will play Alan McManus in the last eight after the 1994 Masters champion defeated Dominic Dale 5-1.
Photographs by Monique Limbos.