Davis loses lengthy battle

The match in Chengdu, China, spilled over into a second session before Fu clinched the frame he required to seal a quarter-final meeting with Shaun Murphy or Ding Junhui.

Looking to build on his 6-4 win over world number four Mark Williams in round one yesterday, Davis got off to a good start by winning the opening frame 103-28 thanks largely to a break of 67.

The world number 20 also clinched the second 70-13 with a top run of 28, but Fu rattled through the third 79-0 with all his points coming in one visit.

A 51 helped Davis open up a 56-point lead in frame four only for Fu, the world number 26 from Hong Kong, to come back and pinch it 70-59, making it 2-2 at the interval.

The match looked to be swinging Fu’s way as he hit the front for the first time by winning frame five 66-11 aided by a 42 and began the next with a 59, yet Davis rallied to nick it 64-59 with a 38 clearance for 3-3.

Davis got his nose back in front by winning frame seven 95-15 with runs of 41 and 30, but that was to be his last success as Fu reeled off the subsequent three frames for a hard-earned victory.

Fu levelled at 4-4 by winning frame eight 73-7 with a best effort of 31 and a 45 gave him the ninth 66-9 for a 5-4 lead when play was halted. When it resumed, Fu clinched the 10th frame comfortably to win the match.