ANTHONY Hamilton described his performance in defeat to Hong Kong's Marco Fu as "terrible from start to finish", as the Nottingham potter crashed out of the Shanghai Masters in the first round.

The 37 year-old was humbled 5-2, despite leading 2-0. This was only Hamilton's second defeat in six matches against world No.14 Fu.

"I won the first couple of frames, but that was only because Marco took a while to settle down," he said.

"After that I couldn't pot a ball. It was really frustrating."

Hamilton, who was the runner up in the 2002 China Open, began the week in encouraging fashion with a 5-1 win over rising Chinese star Li Yen.

But the signs were there that he was not at his best, as he battled jet-lag and was forced to deal with a marathon session as the match was delayed because of slow play.

He opened up with a break of 46 to clinch the first frame, and won the second, despite not scoring above 27.

He notched 31 in the third frame, but lost it, and had to go into the mid-session interval all square at 2-2 even though Fu did not score above 28.

Fu, the reigning Royal London Watches Grand Prix champion, began to find his range in the fifth frame, taking it with breaks of 56 and 55.

Hamilton recorded his highest score of the match in the sixth frame, a solid 55, but lost out to Fu's 59.

And the 30 year-oldclinched the win with a break of 72 in the seventh frame.

Fu faces in-form Andy Hicks for a place in the quarter-finals.

It was a day of shocks in the Far East yesterday, with three ex-world champions all booking an early flight home.

Shaun Murphy and Peter Ebdon were beaten by Hicks and Stuart Bingham respectively, while Graeme Dott had to withdraw because he broke a his left arm playing football outside the players' hotel.