Champion at the Bendigo classic two years ago, Fu crashed to a 5-4 defeat in Wednesday’s duel with Martin Gould at Bendigo Stadium.

Fu's defeat followed the surprise exit of Australian ace Neil Robertson in Tuesday night’s session.

The elimination of Fu, the 2013 champion, and Robertson, who hails from Collingwood and was runner-up in Bendigo the past two years, has thrown the race for the 2015 title wide open.

Gould raced to a three-nil lead in his clash with Fu.

The ace from Middlesex won the opening frame 77-8, and then followed up with a 64-49 victory.

Gould’s run kept rolling as he won frame three, 71-0.

The next three frame went Fu’s way.

The Hong Kong star racked up scores of 70-63, 77-0 and 64-51 to be back in the contest.

Gould regained the lead by winning the seventh frame, 76-28.

A 74-25 victory by Fu forced a match-deciding ninth frame.

Gould achieved a match-high break of 76 as he won the frame, 77-6, and the match.

The morning session included a 5-3 win by Welshman Michael White against Hossein Vafaei Ayouri from Iran.

Ayouri won the opening two frames, 74-57 and 81-0, before White dominated the next two, 66-5 and 92-1.

A 72-25 win put Ayouri back in front, but White ruled the table from there on, 73-31 93-21 and 62-40.

White achieved a match-high break of 69 in the seventh frame of an absorbing contest.

Fans were stunned by Robertson’s exit in the previous night’s play.

Robertson fought from 4-0 down as world number 30 Matthew Selt made a brilliant start.

Selt’s run to a sizeable lead includes breaks of 83 and 63.

Victory in the eight frame by Robertson on the last black levelled the contest.

A 55-minute deciding frame went to Selt as he potted the final blue after a long safety battle.

Selt will take on Mark Joyce in Wednesday night’s session.

Other matches on Wednesday include Martin Gould against Michael Holt, and John Higgins opposed to Fergal O’Brien.

A four-time world champion, Higgins has won 25 ranking tournaments.

The Gould-Holt and Higgins-O’Brien matches are scheduled to hit off at 12.30pm.

The morning session starts at 11.30am and will include Joe Perry against Robert Milkins.

Tickets for the tournament start at just $25. For details check out http://www.bendigostadium.com.au or phone 5440 6214.