Fu starts well against Gould

Marco Fu began promisingly as he looked to avenge last year's first-round defeat to Martin Gould at the Betfred.com World Championship.

Paired again at the last-32 stage, former semi-finalist Fu opened up a 3-1 lead at the morning mid-session interval.

Hong Kong cueman Fu, 33, was runner-up to Ding Junhui at the Masters in January but has otherwise had a largely disappointing season.

He stands 21st in the world rankings, just one place higher than 29-year-old Gould, who last year beat him 10-9 in the opening round before almost knocking out eventual champion Neil Robertson.

Gould led Robertson 11-5 but lost 13-12, and today was outscored by Fu in the early stages of their Crucible re-match.

Fu began with a break of 70 in the first frame and added 97 to take the next and lead 2-0. Gould narrowed the gap before Fu made 81 to pull two clear again.

On the other table it was slow going, with Wellingborough's Rory McLeod, who coaches the Qatari national snooker team, edging 2-1 in front of Ricky Walden.

Flintshire-based Englishman Walden then hauled himself level with a run of 59.