Who is the fastest player on planet snooker as reborn speed merchant rivals Ronnie O'Sullivan and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh at UK Championship?

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The most entertaining players in professional snooker traditionally like to get on with the business of potting balls. Ronnie O'Sullivan and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh are widely regarded as the fastest two professionals on the main circuit, but there has been some recent rapid movement at the summit of the sport, with a former UK finalist reinventing his game with a fresh attacking approach.

Pullen nails outrageous double during 147 break in UK Championship qualifying

Video credit: TNT Sports

Marco Fu is officially the fastest player on the World Snooker Tour, moving ahead of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the sport's speed merchant stakes.

At the age of 47, the heavy-scoring Hong Kong potter, who has battled eye problems in recent years, has reinvented himself as the slickest mover on the professional circuit, playing on a two-year invitational card to extend an elite career that began in 1998.

Fu - winner of the Grand Prix (2007), Australian Open (2013) and Scottish Open (2016) - boasts an average shot time of a rapid 15.8 seconds, which is faster than Un-Nooh (17.3s) and O'Sullivan (17.8s).

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He has put his new approach to the game to good effect in UK Championship qualifying with two opening wins at an event where he reached the final in 2008, losing a taut final 10-9 to Shaun Murphy.

Breaks of 51, 81, 131 and 68 saw him ease past Wang Yuchen 6-3 on Sunday after opening his campaign with a 6-2 win over three-time women's world champion and compatriot Ng On Yee on Saturday that included runs of 104, 87 and 51.

He will face world No. 29 Zhou Yuelong in the third qualifying round on Tuesday morning at the Robin Park Leisure Centre, live on discovery+, chasing two more wins to reach the final stage at the Barbican in York.

It is a far cry from the time when Fu was a more methodical potter, involved in one of the longest frames in World Championship history, lasting an exacting 76 minutes and 11 seconds against Mark Selby in the 2016 semi-finals, a match he would lose 17-15.

It was overtaken by the 85 minutes and 22 seconds recorded by Selby and Yan Bingtao in a second-round match in 2022 at the Crucible.

Fu, who has produced 14 centuries so far this season, earned the inaugural player of the month in June after reaching the final stages of the Wuhan Open and British Open.

The former world No. 5 was forced to miss the Xi'an Grand Prix, Scottish Open and Northern Ireland Open due to a fractured elbow, but seems to be back in peak potting condition.

Qualifying for the 49th UK Championship takes place between November 22-27 in Wigan before the main event is staged at the Barbican in York from November 29 to December 7, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.