The following season was less consistent, although Fu qualified for all the tournaments except the Malta Cup. His best result was a quarter-final loss to Ding Junhui at the China Open. He finished the season ranked 25, falling seven places. The 2005–06 season did not end any better. A series of first round defeats saw him provisionally drop out of the top 32. However, he had a good run at the 2006 World Championship, beating three seeded players—Alan McManus 10–3, Stephen Maguire 13–4, and Ken Doherty 13–10. He reached the semi-finals where he lost to the 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon 16–17. In that match, Fu was 9–15 down with only one session left to play, but won seven out of the next eight frames to send the match into the deciding frame, which Ebdon eventually won. This run enabled him to stay in the world top 32 for next season, ranked 22.