AN UNDER par Marco Fu hailed his comeback 6-5 win over Shaun Murphy as the “biggest” of his career - as his opponent claimed snooker’s governing body was “directly responsible” for his defeat.

Fu recovered from 5-3 down to march into the last eight of the Coral UK Championship as he gained a measure of revenge against the man who beat him in the final of the competition six years ago.

Fu struggled to score throughout, recording a top break in the match of only 67, but he doggedly hung on to Murphy’s coat-tails to force a decider.

Murphy got in first with 54 in the final frame but failed to land on a ball when splitting the pack and a tense match was ultimately decided when he snookered himself on the yellow behind the blue as Fu managed to get over the line.

Afterwards, both players complained about the condition of their table in the main arena but Murphy was especially critical.

Fu said: “Overall, I wasn’t happy with the way I played but I regard this as probably the biggest win of my career.

“I have won matches against top players when I am playing well but I am guessing my pot success was about 80 per cent. I didn’t feel like making a 20 break whenever I got a chance and Shaun was playing really well - cueing well under pressure. Every time he got into the balls I fancied him to make a 50 or 60 break.

“It’s tough to compete against and I needed to rely on my safety. I just couldn’t really get any rhythm and I couldn’t believe, the way I was playing, I could get to 5-5 and win at the end. It is an incredible feeling.

“The way I played was a bit disappointing. It’s a great win but it is history now. I just need to concentrate on my next match.”

Murphy, who has complained persistently about the table conditions at York and the problem of heavy contacts and bad bounces in general for 12 months, said he held the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association “responsible” for his defeat.

He explained: “I have had a kick and a big bounce in almost every frame. I can’t think of one frame that’s not been affected by something out of both of our control - it didn’t just happen to me it was Marco as well.”

On the key shot which left him snookered, he said: “The white has hit the cushion and it can’t possibly go near the blue. It has gone two feet out of its way to finish under the blue and I hold the WPBSA directly responsible.

“I think it has ruined everybody’s game this week, winners and losers. It is very difficult to complain about something when you lose because you sound like a bad loser but, unfortunately, only people who have played snooker will understand it.

“Where the white has finished under the blue - it is physically impossible to play that shot from that angle and it has cost me the game.

“He (Barry Hearn, World Snooker chairman) should stick to what he knows best, which is putting on tournaments and we will do the playing.”

Fu added of the conditions: “It was very tough. It was really poor. I couldn’t believe how well Shaun played under these type of conditions.

“Every time I got a chance I couldn’t get a feel of the balls. The cushions were a bit inconsistent as well. The balls were a bit heavy. It was just very difficult.

“Overall, the conditions in the last week in York have been very disappointing. It’s one of the biggest tournaments and, sometimes, it is quite embarrassing. We just couldn’t play.”