Marco Fu, aged 38, is the most successful snooker player to hail from Hong Kong. His form can be erratic, either playing superbly or cueing badly. This week at the Scottish Open, played at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Fu was in great form.
John Higgins, aged 41, was favourite for the match and Higgins had been in good form all season. This was despite Higgins having to come from 1-5 behind to defeat Judd Trump in their semi-final encounter. In this match Trump compiled three century breaks and looked unstoppable, before Higgins began his five frame winning streak helped by a run of 112. In the other semi-final Fu was an easy winner over Chinese player Yu Delu, winning 6-1.
The final, refereed by Leo Scullion, could not have begun better for Higgins. The Scottish player won the opening three frames by compiling three century breaks: 126,101, and 100. During this time Fu was restricted to just 25 points and Higgins was cueing beautifully, not looking capable of missing a ball. Seizing his next opportunity, Fu won the fourth frame with a century of his own – 106. The opening four frames produced, remarkably, four century breaks.
Coming out after a short interval, Higgins knocked in a break of 78 to move 4-1 in front. That was Higgins’ last success of the day. Fu won the final three frames of the first session with the help of two 50 plus breaks. During this period Higgins seemed to go into his shell and his normally tight safety play was missing the mark, providing Fu with several openings. Fu took these chances and began to play better and better.
With the second session Fu continued his fine form and won five frames in succession (making it eight consecutive frames in all) to win the match 9-4. Here Fu was aided by runs of 89, two breaks of 59, and a break of 60. Higgins threatened to win a couple of frames, particularly the first of the evening.
Fu opened the ninth frame with a 58-6 lead; Higgins obtained the snookers he needed but failed to pot enough balls and Fu moved ahead in the match for the first time. Higgins could also have won the eleventh frame. After potting a superb pink Higgins missed a fine cut on the final black ball. After this Fu was dominant and scooped the £70,000 ($100,000) first prize.
Marco Fu had been impressive throughout the tournament. Fu won 36 frames across seven matches compiling 11 centuries and 21 further breaks over 50.
The frame scores were (Fu first):
Session 1:
0-126 (126), 25-102 (101), 0-100 (100), 106-1 (106), 0-78 (78), 101-28, 94-36 (58), 78-32 (54)
Session 2:
62-35, 89-0 (89), 66-57 (59), 84-24 (59), 68-34 (60)
