 Complete the following phrase:  Ebdon began the season by qualifying for the Wuxi Classic and lost 45 to an in-form Stuart Bingham in the first round.ref name201213ref He then played in the Australian Goldfields Open, beating Michael Holt, Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy all by 54 scorelines. The match against Ding caused a degree of controversy as Ebdon had taken an average of 32 seconds a shot in a nine frame encounter lasting almost 5 hours. In the semi-finals he defeated Marco Fu 62, despite his opponent having over a 90 pot success, 80 long pot success and 80 in his safety game success. He faced Barry Hawkins in the final and succumbed to a 39 defeat, admitting afterwards that he had struggled in every department of his game. Ebdon lost in the first round of the Shanghai Masters, but continued his good start to the season at the inaugural 