Getting under way today in Sydney is the inaugural Australian Women’s Open with Ng On Yee and Reanne Evans featuring in a new 24-woman tournament.
With women’s snooker continuing to grow over the last few years, the WLBS will be hoping for a successful staging in a new territory as it attempts to expand its global reach.
More than half of the field hail from Down Under and it will be interesting to see what level of competition they can provide against some of the leading stars in the game.
World champion Ng and former world number one Evans have shared the first two titles of the 2018/19 campaign, with Ng defending her UK Championship crown and Evans reigning in the European Masters earlier this month.
The pair will be the favourites to once again feature at the business end of proceedings when the honours are decided in the Australian Women’s Open on Saturday but there is still stiff competition to contend with elsewhere.
Not least from young Thai talent Nutcharut Wongharuthai, who was runner-up to Evans in Belgium and, at just 18 years-old, is one of the most exciting prospects on the women’s tour at present.
The line-up has been divided into four groups which will first play out a round-robin format before the best 16 advance to the knockout phases.
Matches in the groups are played over the best of three frames with all frames counting towards the final standings, before the format gradually increases later in the week with the final showdown set to take place over the best of seven frames.
