Ng On Yee ended an 11-month wait for ranking silverware after defeating Mink Nutcharut 4-2 to lift the Belgian Women’s Open title in Bruges on Sunday.
The Hong Kong star claimed the event for the second time in her career, having previously triumphed in 2020, and finally converted a fourth ranking final appearance of the season after three earlier defeats.
Victory at The Trickshot marked Ng’s 23rd career ranking title on the World Women’s Snooker Tour and her first of the current campaign, moving her clear into fifth place on the all-time winners list behind only Reanne Evans, Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, and Karen Corr.
Ng’s route to the title was an impressive, as she topped her round-robin group without dropping a frame before eliminating Narucha Phoemphul, Rebecca Kenna, and defending champion Evans in the knockout stages.
Her semi-final win over Evans was sealed with a superb break of 81, the highest contribution of her tournament.
The final itself was a tense and often scrappy rematch of the 2024 Belgian Women’s Open decider, which Nutcharut had won 4-2.
This time, the Thai cueist made the stronger start with breaks of 95 and 40 to edge ahead early, but Ng responded well, producing her best snooker when it mattered to take the final three frames and close out a 4-2 success.
While Ng returned to the winner’s circle, the event also produced a major story line earlier, as Bai Yulu saw her remarkable 41-match winning streak on the World Women’s Snooker Tour come to an end.
The world number one was edged out 4-3 by Nutcharut in a dramatic semi-final, despite recovering from 3-0 down to force a deciding frame.
Nutcharut ultimately held her nerve to advance, bringing world champion Bai’s unbeaten run to a halt.
Bai would at least leave Bruges with the tournament’s highest break, a run of 99 compiled during the quarter-finals.
Nutcharut’s subsequent loss in the final meant that the world rankings remain unchanged, with the 26 year-old missing the chance to reclaim the number one spot.
There were also notable runs elsewhere in the draw, with 14-year-old Phakwalan Kongkaew reaching her first world ranking quarter-final, while Hong Kong’s Fong Mei Mei made the last eight for the first time in seven years.
2026 Belgian Women’s Open
Selected Results
Round of 16
Reanne Evans 3-0 Paulina Delega
Fong Mei Mei 3-1 Diana Khodjaeva
Rebecca Kenna 3-0 Zoe Killington
Ng On Yee 3-1 Narucha Phoemphul
Mink Nutcharut 3-0 Panchaya Channoi
Anna Prisjaznuka 3-2 Tessa Davidson
Phakwalan Kongkaew 3-1 Shiu Wing Man
Bai Yulu 3-0 Lau Yuk Fan
Quarter-Finals
Reanne Evans 3-1 Fong Mei Mei
Ng On Yee 3-0 Rebecca Kenna
Mink Nutcharut 3-0 Anna Prisjaznuka
Bai Yulu 3-0 Phakwalan Kongkaew
Semi-Finals
Ng On Yee 4-2 Reanne Evans
Mink Nutcharut 4-3 Bai Yulu
Final
Ng On Yee 4-2 Mink Nutcharut
Featured photo credit: Andy Chubb
Ng On Yee definitely seems to me to be a better player now than she was when she was winning many women’s tournaments and breaking open Reanne Evan’s hold on the game. The emergence of Bai Yulu over the last three seasons, playing snooker that is in a different sphere to the rest of the tour, has obscured that to a big extent, but I genuinely think that this Ng On Yee would beat her younger self and almost any other woman player between the heady olden days of the two Fishers’ and now Bai Yulu. The four semifinalists here were the four current holders of main tour cards, and they are clearly the whole upper echelon of the women’s game, looking at the quarter finals scorelines reinforces that!