MARCO Fu lit up the Alexandra Palace with a sparkling 147 maximum break on the first night of the Dafabet Masters as he defeated Basildon's Stuart Bingham.

The 37-year-old from Hong Kong fired in the third perfect break of his career as he beat Bingham at the historic London venue.

Fu moved 3-1 ahead with his magnificent clearance and went on to triumph 6-3, setting up a possible shot at Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals.

The only previous Masters maximums had been posted by Canadian Kirk Stevens, against Jimmy White in 1984, and China's Ding Junhui, in his match with Anthony Hamilton in 2007.

World number 10 Fu completed the overseas hat-trick, and there was scarcely a moment in the break when he looked troubled.

He celebrated with a fist pump, handshakes for referee Brendan Moore and Bingham, and a wave to the crowd, before walking off for the mid-match interval. Fu returned to fire in two more centuries, both more modest runs of 103, on his way to a classy victory.

Fu's previous maximums came against Ken Doherty at the Scottish Masters in 2000 and in World Open qualifying in January 2012, when Matt Selt was his opponent.

The latest feat will earn him a £10,000 reward unless it is matched during the tournament, which runs until next Sunday, in which case Fu will have to share the bounty.

Fu will tackle defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan on Thursday if the 39-year-old world number three sees off Ricky Walden on Tuesday.

Shaun Murphy earlier booked his place in the last eight by holding off a Mark Selby fightback to take a 6-5 victory from a gripping match.

Murphy, world champion in 2005, had led the reigning Crucible king 5-1, despite an opening 100 from his opponent. He was shaken when Selby roared back to level, aided by breaks of 120, 54 and 92.

Selby toppled Murphy 6-1 in the semi-finals at Alexandra Palace last year, but this would be Murphy's day in the capital.

New father Selby, whose wife Vikki gave birth to their first child Sofia in November, has won three previous Masters titles, in 2008, 2010 and 2013.

Yet when the 31-year-old from Leicester could not sink a black in the decider he offered Murphy the big opportunity he was longing for.

The Sale-based potter suddenly looked sharp and a snappy break of 40 put him 51 points ahead with 35 left on, with Selby left to scratch around for a handful of snookers. They would not come and Selby's race was run when Murphy knocked in the final red.

Murphy said: "At 5-1 I knew it wasn't over because I've seen Mark come back so many times. He's the worst player on tour to have a lead against, because he relaxes and goes for his shots, and most of them go in."

The 32-year-old added, according to worldsnooker.com: "Apart from missing a black at 5-3, I didn't feel as if I did that much wrong. The balls went messy in the last frame and when I got a chance I felt as if I had one arm tied behind my back. Snooker can be like that sometimes."

Beaten Selby said: "I dug in and turned it around and I was confident at 5-5. But every credit to Shaun because he made a good break in the last frame."

Monday's Masters schedule sees Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire go head to head in the afternoon and former champion Neil Robertson tackle Robert Milkins in the evening.