World Snooker Tour out of reach for Ng On-yee as she loses to Bai Yulu at British Women’s Open
- Hongkonger bows out in quarter-finals in final event of season, losing to teenager Bai Yulu of China
- Defeat denies Ng the chance to earn two more years on the World Snooker Tour, with Reanne Evans remaining ahead of her in the rankings to take the final berth
Hong Kong’s Ng On-yee missed the chance to extend her stint at snooker’s top tables as she lost in the quarter-finals of the British Women’s Open.
The Hongkonger previously earned a two-year tour card in 2021, as did Evans, but as it stands Ng will not have a place next season, having been beaten 3-2 by eventual champion Bai Yulu of China in the last eight in Walsall on Sunday.
Instead, it was Evans who survived the round, defeating Maria Catalano 3-0 and securing her own continued presence on the tour after Thailand’s Baipat Siripaporn took the other spot by winning her maiden world title in March.
Baipat’s compatriot and world No 1 Mink Nutcharut also already has a card, gaining one last year along with Rebecca Kenna of England, the world No 4.
Ng, 32, had struggled for form at times during the season, dropping out of the world’s top two for the first time in nine years and losing in the last 16 of the World Women’s Championship.
In Sunday’s cagey encounter with Bai at Walsall’s Landywood Snooker Club, she won the opening frame before finding herself level at 1-1 and 2-2. Her 19-year-old opponent took the decider and with it went Ng’s tour hopes.
That was Bai’s debut appearance on the World Women’s Snooker Tour; the British Open was her second, and she went on to set up another showdown with Evans later on Sunday, outlasting Thailand’s Ploychompoo Laokiatphong in one semi-final while Evans saw off Kenna in the other, both by 4-1 margins.
Evans, already a record six-time winner of the event, led 3-2 in the final before Bai recovered to prevail 4-3 and take her first world-ranking title.
