The 2018 World Women's Snooker Championship was a women's

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

tournament that took place at the Dolmen Hotel,

St. Paul's Bay St. Paul's Bay ( mt, San Pawl il-Baħar) is a town in the Northern Region of Malta, sixteen kilometres () northwest of the capital Valletta. Saint Paul's Bay is the largest town in the Northern Region and the seat of the Northern Regional Comm ...

, in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

from 14 to 17 March 2018. Defending champion

Ng On-yee Ng On-yee (; born 17 November 1990) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player who has won three IBSF World Snooker Championships and three World Women's Snooker world championships. She held the number one position in the World Women's Sno ...

won the event with a 5–0 win against

Maria Catalano Maria Catalano (born 27 February 1982) is an English snooker player. Career In the 2007 season she won the British Open and the Connie Gough National Championship. In December 2002, she was ranked number four in the world. She was ranked world ...

in the final. Ng On-yee won the title without losing a single frame over all six of her matches and as champion, qualified to enter the

2018 World Snooker Championship The 2018 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2018 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament held from 21 April to 7 May 2018 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Hosted by the World Prof ...

. This was the first time that the snooker world championship for women was organised under the banner of the World Snooker Federation (WSF). The WSF was formed in October 2017, supported by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and the European Billiards and Snooker Association. The event saw a slightly increased prize fund, with the winner receiving ,000.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below: * Winner: €6,000 * Runner-up: €3,000 * Semi-final: €1,300 * Quarter-final: €700 * Last 16: €300 * Highest break: €200 * Total: €17,000

Overview

The event featured 24 participants and was open to players nominated by their national federations, if the federations were members of the World Snooker Federation by 1 March 2018. The top 30 ranked players (as calculated following the 2018 British Open) were eligible to be nominated. Each National Federation (NF) was able to nominate up to four additional players to take part, as well as those in the top 30 of the rankings. The participants featured five from England; four from Hong Kong and from Poland; two each from Belgium, Brazil, Ireland, and Thailand; and one from Australia, Netherlands and Wales. Of the players in the top 30 in the world rankings, the following players competed in the world championships: Laura Evans,

, Paula Judge,

Reanne Evans Reanne Evans (born 25 October 1985) is an English professional snooker player who competes on the World Women's Snooker Tour and the professional World Snooker Tour. She is the number one ranked player on the women's tour, and regularly featur ...

Rebecca Kenna Rebecca Kenna (' Granger; born 11 January 1989) is an English professional snooker player from Keighley. She competes on the World Women's Snooker Tour, through which she also earned a tour card for the professional World Snooker Tour. She was run ...

Ronda Sheldreck Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...

Suzie Opacic Suzie Terry (formerly Suzie Opacic) is an English snooker player. She won the 2006 World Ladies Junior Championship and is an active player on the women's professional snooker circuit, who has reached the semi-finals of several ranking tourname ...

. In addition, sixteen players were added from outside of the top 30 players: Ewelina Pislewska, Fatima Gusso Rigoni, Inge Vermeulen,

Jaique Ip Wan In Jaique Ip Wan-in MH (; born 15 January 1980) is a Hong Kong amateur snooker player. Biography Ip won the silver medal at the 2006 IBSF World Championships in Amman, Jordan, after she lost 5–0 in the final against Wendy Jans.

, Jacqueline Ellis, Joanna Grochal, Judy Dangerfield, Katarzyna Bialik, Malgorzata Sikorska, Manon Melief, Mei Mei Fong, Nicolly Christo,

Nutcharut Wongharuthai Nutcharut Wongharuthai (, ; born 7 November 1999), better known as Mink Nutcharut, is a Thai professional snooker player who is the reigning World Women's Snooker Champion. She and Neil Robertson are also the reigning World Mixed Doubles champio ...

, Waratthanun Sukritthanes,

Wendy Jans Wendy Jans (born 14 June 1983, in Bree, Belgium) is a Belgian professional snooker and pool player. She has won the IBSF World Snooker Championship for women seven times. She reached her first women's world final at the 2022 World Women's Snooke ...

, Yee Ting Cheung.

Tournament summary

In the group stage,

, and Waratthanun Sukritthanes all won their groups without losing a frame.

made a highest break of 110 against

, which turned out to be the only century break of the tournament. All four players from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

reached the knockout stages, but three of them lost in their first knockout matches. In the quarter finals and semi-finals, only the semi-final between

and

went to a deciding frame, with

Catalano Catalano is an Italian surname, originally an adjective or derived substantive indicating something or someone Catalan or from Catalonia, can refer to the following persons: *Eduardo Catalano, Argentinian architect and sculptor *Elisabetta Catalan ...

the surprising winner.

reached the semi-finals for the third year in a row.

's 5–0 whitewashing of

in the final meant

had won the title for the third time, this time having won six matches and a total of 22 frames throughout the tournament without conceding any. This was despite

having low expectations at the start of the tournament, as she was feeling under pressure, suffering from loss of form, and ill with a cough. In addition to the trophy and title, winning provided

with a place in the qualifying rounds of the

, her previous two attempts at the World Snooker Championship having both ended at the first match.

Results

Group stage

The group stage began 14 March 2018, with six groups of four players. Each match was played as a best-of-5-. The top two players from each group qualified for the knockout round. Progression from the group stages was determined, by: matches won; head-to-head results; frames won; highest break; and lastly ranking position.

Main draw

The numbers in parentheses are players' seedings. Players listed in bold indicate match winner.

References

External links

Ng On Yee 吳安儀 vs Maria Catalano
2018 World Women's Snooker Championship Final (video)
Presentation Ceremony
(video) {{World Women's Snooker Championship World Women's Snooker Championship 2018 in snooker 2018 in women's sport 2018 in Maltese sport International sports competitions hosted by Malta March 2018 sports events in Europe