Ng On Yee held off a spirited fight back from Mink Nutcharut to win the 2024 Albanian Women’s Open on Friday in Golem.
In what has transpired to be a fascinating rivalry between Ng and Mink this season, the Hong Kong potter triumphed in a dramatic 4-3 thriller.
It represented the third time during the 2023/24 campaign that the pair faced off for silverware on the World Women’s Snooker Tour.
Mink, the women’s world number one, had gotten the better of their previous two showdowns for glory this term.
The Thai star eclipsed Ng 4-2 to claim the US Women’s Open in August and repeated that scoreline last month to defend the Belgian Women’s Open crown.
Ng finally managed to enact her revenge on this occasion but was forced to work hard for it.
The 33 year-old compiled a break of 52 as she raced into a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Yet Mink fought her way back into the contest, winning the subsequent three frames on the trot to force a decider.
With momentum on her side and having prevailed from their previous couple of finals, the 24 year-old would have entered the deciding frame as the favourite.
But Ng dug deep and emerged from a tense finale to secure the success on the colours.
Victory in the inaugural Albanian Women’s Open adds to her win at the Australian Women’s Open in October and brings her career tally of ranking titles to 19.
Earlier in the competition, Ng lost her round-robin fixture against promising young Chinese talent Bai Yulu but still managed to qualify for the knockout phase in second place from her group.
A triumph over Diana Schuler was followed by a 3-2 defeat of her long-term rival Reanne Evans in the quarter-finals.
Ng was again taken the distance in the last four, where she eventually overcame Rebecca Kenna 4-3.
Mink had edged Bai by the same narrow margin in her semi-final fixture but had settle for the runner-up spot this time.
The next event on the World Women’s Snooker Tour will be the World Women’s Snooker Championship.
The flagship tournament will be held in Chang Ping, Dongguan in China from March 11-17, 2024.
2024 Albanian Women’s Open
Selected Results
Quarter-Finals
Mink Nutcharut 3-1 Anupama Ramachandran
Bai Yulu 3-1 Baipat Siripaporn
Rebecca Kenna 3-2 So Man Yan
Ng On Yee 3-2 Reanne Evans
Semi-Finals
Mink Nutcharut 4-3 Bai Yulu
Ng On Yee 4-3 Rebecca Kenna
Final
Ng On Yee 4-3 Mink Nutcharut
Featured photo credit: WWS
Hard match player Ng On-yee and a proven winner but Mink and Bai Yulu are getting stronger with time. Reanne Evans faces the same challenge on the women’s tour. The outflow of new talent in women’s snooker seems even more skewed towards emerging younger players from Asia than it does on the Main Tour. I wonder what standard the European women’s snooker is at now: it seems, from the outside, to be regression from decades past not progression.