Reanne Evans
Reanne Evans MBE (born 25 October 1985) is an English professional snooker player who competes on the World Women's Snooker Tour, through which she also earned a tour card for the professional World Snooker Tour. The reigning World Women's Snooker Champion, she is the number one ranked player on the women's tour,[2] and regularly features as a pundit on televised snooker coverage.
![]() Evans at Paul Hunter Classic 2017 | |
Born | Dudley, West Midlands, England | 25 October 1985
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Sport country | ![]() |
Professional | 2010/2011, 2021–present |
Highest ranking | World Snooker Tour: 85[1] World Women's Snooker: 1 |
Current ranking | 120 (as of 3 May 2022) |
Tournament wins | |
World Champion | Women's (12 times): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019 |
As a 16-year-old in 2002, Evans competed in her first women's world championship, reaching the semi-finals.[3] She went on to become the most successful female player in snooker history.[4] She has won a record 12 women's world titles, including ten consecutive victories between 2005 and 2014, surpassing Allison Fisher's previous record of seven world titles.[5] She set further women's records by winning ten UK Women's Snooker Championships,[6] six Eden Masters titles,[4] 58 ranking titles on the women's tour overall,[4] and 90 consecutive victories in women's matches between 2008 and 2011.[4] She was made an MBE in the 2020 Birthday Honours for her services to women's snooker.[7]
Evans received a wildcard to the professional tour for the 2010–11 season, making her the first woman to compete on the professional tour since Fisher in the 1994–95 season. In 2013, she qualified for the Wuxi Classic as an amateur competitor, becoming the first woman to reach the final stages of a professional ranking snooker tournament.[8][9] She received wildcards to the World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds in 2015 and from 2017–21. In 2019, she became the first woman to compete in the Champion of Champions. On International Women's Day in 2021, she received a two-year invitational tour card that commenced in the 2021–22 season, enabling her to enter any ranking event at the qualifying stages.
Women's snooker
World Ladies Billiards and Snooker/World Women's Snooker
At the age of 16 in 2002, Evans entered her first World Women's Snooker Championship and reached the semifinal, where she was defeated 0–4 by eventual champion Kelly Fisher. In the quarterfinal, Evans had beaten third seed Lynette Horsburgh 4–3.[10][11] She won her first ranking tournament, the Connie Gough Memorial Championship, in 2004. This was the only women's ranking event held in the 2003–04 season, and took place after Fisher, the top player in the rankings, had departed from the circuit to take up playing pool in the United States.[12]
Evans won her first world championship in 2005 with a 6–4 victory over Horsburgh in the final, which featured one frame that was replayed because of a problem with the scoring.[13] She retained the title in 2006 just six weeks before she was due to give birth, defeating Emma Bonney 5–3 in the final. She also won the 2006 WLBSA mixed doubles title, partnering with Mark Allen to beat Sonia Chapman and Matthew Couch 3–0 in the final.[14]
She went on to win ten consecutive WLBSA/World Women's Snooker titles from 2005 to 2014, and claimed the title again in 2016 and 2019. Her total of 12 championship titles is a record, ahead of Allison Fisher's seven.[15][16][17]
Her loss to Maria Catalano at the 2011 Northern Classic brought to an end an unbeaten run of 90 women's snooker matches.[18]
She won the 2019 Women's Tour Championship, held at the Crucible Theatre, by beating Nutcharut Wongharuthai in the semi-finals and Ng On-yee 1–0 in the final.[19]
In September 2021, following an 18-month suspension of the Women's Snooker Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[20] Evans won the 2021 UK Women's Championship, defeating Rebecca Kenna 4–0 in the final.[21] In November 2021, she was runner-up to Ng in the Eden Women's Masters, losing the final 3–4 after having led 3–1.[22] In January 2022, she lost 3–4 to Wongharuthai in the final of the British Women's Open.[23] At the 2022 World Women's Snooker Championship in February, Evans was the defending champion, but she lost 1–4 to Belgian player Wendy Jans in the quarter-finals, the first time she had not reached at least the semi-finals of the tournament.[24] She retained her number one place in the women's world rankings at the end of the 2021–22 season, although Ng and Wongharuthai closed the gap in ranking points.[25]
International Billiards and Snooker Federation
Evans won the IBSF Women's Snooker Championship in 2004, 2007, and 2008.[26] She did not travel to the 2009 championship in Hyderabad to defend her title as the cost of travelling would have been more than the prize money she could have earned.[27]
European Billiards and Snooker Association
Evans won the EBSA European Snooker Championship in 2007 and 2008.
World Snooker Tour
After winning 61 consecutive women's matches and defeating reigning world champion John Higgins 4–3 at the 2009 Six-red World Championship,[28] Evans was awarded a wildcard on the professional tour for the 2010–11 season, enabling her to enter all ranking events at the qualifying stage. This made her the first woman to play on the main tour since Allison Fisher in 1994–95.[29][30] Evans failed to win a match throughout her season on the tour, suffering 18 consecutive defeats.[31] She entered Q-School, but was unable to qualify for the main tour in the 2011–12 season.
In the 2012–13 season, Evans won enough Q-School matches to earn a "top-up" place in the qualifying rounds for the 2013 Wuxi Classic, competing as an amateur.[32][33] In her qualifying match, she defeated Thepchaiya Un-Nooh from Thailand 5–4 to become the first woman to reach the final stages of a ranking snooker tournament.[34] Originally scheduled to play world No. 2, Neil Robertson, in the last 64, she then became one of four players selected to play an extra wildcard round against local Chinese opponents. She traveled to Wuxi and played Chinese teenager Zhu Yinghui in the wildcard round, but lost 2–5.[35]
In March 2015, Evans was awarded a place in the qualifying rounds of the 2015 World Snooker Championship.[36] She lost her opening match 8–10 to 1997 world champion Ken Doherty.[37]

In the qualifying rounds for the 2017 World Snooker Championship, Evans defeated Robin Hull 10–8 in the first round. She stated that the victory was the best of her career, against an opponent she called "amazing".[38] She lost 6–10 to Lee Walker in the second round of qualifying. In the next four world championships, she lost in the first qualifying round each year, 7–10 to Dominic Dale in 2018, 2–10 to Zhang Yong in 2019, 3–6 to Andy Hicks in 2020, and 2–6 to Hicks in 2021.[39][40]
In the 2019 Champion of Champions tournament, Evans became the first female player to compete in the event. She lost 3–4 to Shaun Murphy in the first round, after coming back from 0–3 down to force a deciding frame.[41]
On International Women's Day in 2021, World Snooker announced that Evans and Ng On-yee, the top-two players in the women's world rankings, would receive two-year invitational tour cards to commence in the 2021–22 snooker season.[42] In the second ranking event of the season, the British Open, she was drawn in the first round against Mark Allen, her former partner and father of her teenage daughter. Because their relationship remained strained following a dispute over child support,[43] the media billed their encounter as a "grudge match"[44] and a "battle of the exes",[45] and Evans refused Allen's offer of a handshake before she broke off in the first frame.[46] Even though Evans took a 2–1 lead and led 60–22 in the fourth frame, Allen came back to win 3–2.[47] Evans did not win any matches during her season on the tour, which ended with a 2–6 defeat to Lee Walker in the first round of qualifying for the 2022 World Snooker Championship.[48] Following her loss to Walker, Evans posted on social media that the "last year or so has been tough on and off [the] table" but that she was "working on it".[49]
Personal life
Born in Dudley, West Midlands, Evans was educated at Bishop Milner Catholic School, Dudley.[50] She began playing snooker at age 13, inspired by her older brothers.[33] In 2005, she began a relationship with Northern Irish professional snooker player Mark Allen, with whom she had a daughter, Lauren Sophie, born at Russells Hall Hospital in May 2006. Both parents were 20 when their daughter was born.[51] Evans and Allen ended their relationship in 2008.[52]
Performance and rankings timeline
World Snooker Tour
Tournament | 2010/ 11 |
2011/ 12 |
2012/ 13 |
2013/ 14 |
2014/ 15 |
2015/ 16 |
2016/ 17 |
2017/ 18 |
2018/ 19 |
2019/ 20 |
2020/ 21 |
2021/ 22 |
2022/ 23 | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ranking[53][nb 1] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 3] | [nb 2] | 93 | ||||||||||||
Ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Championship League | Non-Ranking event | A | RR | ||||||||||||||||||||||
British Open | Tournament not held | 1R | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Northern Ireland Open | Tournament not held | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | ||||||||||||||||||
English Open | Tournament not held | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | ||||||||||||||||||
UK Championship | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | |||||||||||||
Scottish Open | Not Held | MR | Tournament not held | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | ||||||||||||||||
World Grand Prix | Tournament not held | NR | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||
Shoot-Out | Non-Ranking event | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | ||||||||||||||||||
German Masters | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | |||||||||||||
Players Championship[nb 4] | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||||
European Masters | Tournament not held | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | ||||||||||||||||||
Welsh Open | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | |||||||||||||
Turkish Masters | Tournament not held | LQ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Gibraltar Open | Tournament not held | MR | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | |||||||||||||||||
Tour Championship | Tournament not held | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||||
World Championship | LQ | A | A | A | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||
Non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Champion of Champions | Tournament not held | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | |||||||||||||||
Former ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wuxi Classic | Non-Ranking | A | WR | A | Tournament not held | ||||||||||||||||||||
Shanghai Masters | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Non-Ranking | Not Held | |||||||||||||||
China Open | LQ | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||
Paul Hunter Classic | Minor-Ranking event | LQ | 1R | A | NR | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||
World Open | LQ | A | A | A | Not Held | A | A | A | A | Not Held | |||||||||||||||
Former non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Six-red World Championship | A | NH | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | RR | Not Held |
Performance table legend | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
LQ | lost in the qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) |
QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
SF | lost in the semi–finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
DNQ | did not qualify for the tournament | A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament |
NH / Not Held | means an event was not held. | |||
NR / Non-Ranking event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
R / Ranking event | means an event is/was a ranking event. | |||
MR / Minor Ranking event | means an event is/was a minor-ranking event. |
- It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
- New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
- She was an amateur
- The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013 and the Players Championship Grand Final 2013/2014–2015/2016)
World Women's Snooker
Tournament[54] | 2001/ 02 |
2002/ 03 |
2003/ 04 |
2004/ 05 |
2005/ 06 |
2006/ 07 |
2007/ 08 |
2008/ 09 |
2009/ 10 |
2010/ 11 |
2011/ 12 |
2012/ 13 |
2013/ 14 |
2014/ 15 |
2015/ 16 |
2016/ 17 |
2017/ 18 |
2018/ 19 |
2019/ 20 |
2020/ 21 |
2021/ 22 | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Current tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UK Championship | A | 1R | NH | F | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | A | SF | A | F | W | F | 1R | W | NH | W | |||||||||||||||
British Open | A | LQ | NH | W | F | W | A | A | W | W | Not Held | W | Not Held | W | Not Held | F | ||||||||||||||||||||
Masters | Tournament Not Held | W | W | W | W | Not Held | W | W | W | W | F | W | W | NH | F | |||||||||||||||||||||
World Championship | SF | SF | NH | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | SF | W | SF | SF | W | Not Held | QF | ||||||||||||||||
Winchester Open | Tournament Not Held | SF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scottish Masters | NH | 1R | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LG Cup | A | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welsh Open | A | 1R | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scottish Open | A | 1R | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
East Anglian Championship | Tournament Not Held | F | W | A | W | W | W | A | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Southern Championship[nb 1] | Tournament Not Held | W | SF | W | W | W | A | NH | A | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northern Championship | Not Held | SF | A | Tournament Not Held | SF | A | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Eden Classic | Tournament Not Held | W | W | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Connie Gough Trophy[nb 2] | A | QF | W | A | F | SF | F | W | W | W | 1R | A | W | W | W | SF | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||
Paul Hunter Classic | Tournament Not Held | F | W | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
European Masters[nb 3] | A | 1R | Tournament Not Held | W | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | Tournament Not Held | SF | A | Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Belgian Open | Tournament Not Held | W | F | Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10-Red World Championship | Tournament Not Held | A | W | W | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6-Red World Championship | Tournament Not Held | A | W | W | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tour Championship | Tournament Not Held | W | Not Held |
Performance Table Legend | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
LQ | lost in the qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) |
QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
DNQ | did not qualify for the tournament | A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament |
NH / Not Held | means an event was not held. | |||
NR / Non-Ranking Event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
R / Ranking Event | means an event is/was a ranking event. | |||
MR / Minor-Ranking Event | means an event is/was a minor-ranking event. | |||
PA / Pro-am Event | means an event is/was a pro-am event. |
- The event was called the South Coast Classic (2006/2007–2009/2010)
- The event was called the Connie Gough National (2004/2005–2009/2010) and Connie Gough Memorial (2010/2011–2014/2015)
- The event was called the European Open (2002/2003)
Career finals
Women's finals: 85 (71 titles)
Team finals: 4 (4 titles)
References
External links
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