SHEFFIELD (England), April 24: Former winner and title favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan was sent packing out of the World Snooker Championship 10-6 by Hong Kong’s Marco Fu in the first round on Wednesday.

O’Sullivan, who triumphed in 2001, compiled a maximum 147 break during the opening session but found himself 6-3 down at the close on Tuesday and failed to make a comeback when play resumed on Wednesday.

Fu, a first round loser in his three previous appearances at the Crucible, knocked in a 133 break at the start of the session before going on to complete a memorable win.

“I played very well and I was scoring heavily when I got a chance,” said the 25-year-old Fu.

“I didn’t expect too much and that probably helped me.”

Fu is hoping his improved form continues as he prepares for a second round meeting with Alan McManus.

“Over the last few seasons I’ve been beating top players and then losing to lesser ones in later rounds,” he said.

“But I’ve spent an hour practising my safety every day and it looks like it’s paying off.”

O’Sullivan had no complaints about the result and said: “Marco played very well and punished me.

“If you’re not firing on all cylinders your opponent will take advantage. I have to go back to the drawing board now and come back stronger.”

O’Sullivan, however, was able to draw some comfort from his maximum break in the seventh frame — a feat which puts him in line for a 169,000 pounds ($267,600) prize.

“It means I can take something away from the match,” he said.

Malta’s Tony Drago beat 16th seed Joe Swail 10-8 following a see-saw battle.

Resuming with a 5-4 lead, Drago fell two frames behind when Swail won the first three frames of the second session.

But Drago regained the lead at 9-8 and won the 18th frame to seal victory.

“It was fair to go close. Someone had to win and fortunately it was me,” said Drago, who was also looking forward to his second round meeting with defending champion Peter Ebdon.

Crowd-favourite Jimmy White fought back from 6-3 down to beat Thailand’s James Wattana 10-6.

White, six times a losing world finalist, reeled off seven frames in a row to set up a second round clash with seventh seed Stephen Lee.

White was joined in the last 16 by Matthew Stevens, who brushed aside Chris Small 10-3.

First round results (best of 19 frames):

Finished on Wednesday:

Tony Drago (Malta) beat Joe Swail (Northern Ireland) 10-8. Frame scores (Swail first): 0-83, 6-76, 28-80, 35-81, 85-0, 46-53, 82-32, 97-30, 68-46, 82-41, 66-57, 77-16, 56-60, 61-8, 0-113, 54-67, 18-61, 33-64. Marco Fu (Hong Kong) beat Ronnie O’Sullivan (England) 10-6. Frame scores (O’Sullivan first): 0-62, 78-8, 5-61, 75-50, 64-91, 7-116, 147-0, 50-67, 31-64, 0-133, 61-71, 63-26, 0-83, 74-16, 87-55, 0-71. Jimmy White (England) beat James Wattana (Thailand) 10-6. Frame scores (White first): 31-78, 1-58, 0-67, 49-74, 99-8, 69-48, 68-38, 53-58, 59-68, 83-13, 75-5, 67-32, 67-58, 99-0, 40-46 (Wattana conceded) 68-46. Matthew Stevens (Wales) beat Chris Small (Scotland) 10-3. Frame scores (Stevens first): 93-13, 87-26, 69-5, 31-62, 60-37, 46-22, 5-114, 58-36, 63-25, 80-33, 25-83, 96-0, 72-7.Paul Hunter beat Allister Carter 10-5.—Reuters