After defeating Joe Swail on Monday, Marco Fu advances to the third round of the World Snooker Championships to face Shaun Murphy. Fu is very confident that he will be the first winner of the championships from outside of Britain.

The last time that was achieved was in 1980 when Alex Higgins was defeated by Cliff Thorbun of Canada. Fu commented: “China is going to be a major force in the next five to ten years, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if we produce a world champion in the next ten years.”

Murphy is a formidable opponent to Fu as he is the champion from 2005. Fu will have to bring his top form to beat Murphy. Though Murphy has troubles of his own as he is worrying about his wife Clare who has vowed to disrupt a match and serve him with divorce papers.

It will be interesting to see if both players can keep their nerves in check and play their best game. One is going to have to rise above the challenge and play their very best to be able to win the match.





- 2009-04-23