Bradford's James Wattana was the toast of Thailand after denying Far East rival Marco Fu a debut victory in the Embassy World Championship at Sheffield.

The unofficial all-Asian title was at stake as well as a place against Stephen Hendry or Paul Hunter in the last 16 of the £1.4 million event.

"It was the worst possible draw for me," admitted Wattana after putting his Hong Kong rival in his place with a 10-8 success, recovering to 8-8 with a 136 clearance.

"But this result is just what I needed. I haven't felt as good as that and able to perform under pressure for a long time. Marco is such a great player and had I not been right mentally I could easily have lost."

Hendry managed to take a 5-4 over-night lead on 20-year-old qualifier Hunter, the match resuming this afternoon.

Even though Hendry twice fell behind to last season's Welsh Open champion, it was the world number two making most of the telling breaks - a 74 in the third frame and 96 in the fourth.

Hunter had led 2-0, but had to win the ninth to avoid going 6-3 behind.

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