Nutcharut ‘Mink’ Wongharuthai won the World Women’s Snooker Championship for the first time in dramatic fashion on Sunday night, claiming a place on the main tour in the process, but while Reanne Evans predicts a bright future for the Thai star, she has a warning over the brutality of the professional circuit.
The 22-year-old claimed the title in a nail-biting finish in Sheffield, edging out Belgian star Wendy Jans 6-5 on the final black after battling back from 5-3 down.
Jans had looked in firm control and had a shot at that final black for glory after securing the snooker she needed in the last frame, but missed it and Mink stepped in to win.
The Thai youngster was the runner-up in the last World Women’s Championship final, losing to Evans in 2019 and the 12-time champ has been well aware of her quality for years.
‘She’s always had the potential to be a winner,’ Evans told Metro.co.uk. ‘She’s got a good game. We all play different ways, different shot selection and that could improve, but it could for all of us.
‘She’s got a bright future ahead of her and it wasn’t a surprise to me that she won the event.’
‘I think like any new player on tour, she’s going to struggle,’ said Reanne. ‘It’s a lot tougher than people think it is, even lower down.
‘You lose to someone and people are like, “Who’s that? I’ve never heard of them,” but they’re just so good and the top players are even better, then the elite players right at the top who are all on their own.
‘It’s all about experience, hopefully me and On yee can gain from this first year. Mink’s got good backing and good support so I think it’ll be really good for her.’
Evans has enjoyed parts of the first season of her own two-year tour card, but after the fanfare of arriving on the pro circuit, and the hype of her match with Mark Allen at the British Open, much of the year has been a bit underwhelming.
That raucous atmosphere in Leicester as she came within a ball of beating Allen is a far cry from the silence of qualifying matches, but she knows it is the day-to-day grind of the snooker circuit that she has to get used to.
‘It’s been a mixed bag,’ she said. ‘When I first got the call I thought I’d treat it as a fresh start, a new challenge, I’ve got two years to do it. But then I was a bit disappointed with the calendar and how it panned out. If you didn’t qualify for the first lot of tournaments, you didn’t play for months.
‘Then you get a top player in the UK Championship, so next time you get a lower ranked player you’re thinking, “I need to win this.” You put more pressure on yourself. For me, the qualifiers should be a week before the event, not months. It seems all or nothing in the calendar at the minute, hopefully it will be better next season.
‘I played the British Open in front of everyone in Leicester, then the week later I’m in a cubicle, pitch black, behind a curtain, two people there, it’s a bit bizarre. But it’s all experience, it’s a learning curve and I’ve got to learn to deal with it better.
‘It’s probably been a bit underwhelming. Also you want to prove people wrong. I want to win a few matches, get one under my belt and more will follow, but maybe underwhelming is the right way to put it.’
There is definitely some disappointment and frustration for Evans that she hasn’t been able to show her best form so far on the main tour, desperately wanting to prove that she and other women can compete as professionals.
‘We’re competitive, that’s why we’re playing,’ she said. ‘Everybody wants to win and you put pressure on yourself even if it’s not coming from anywhere else, it’s professional and personal pride. Whoever I play I want to win, whether it’s number one in the world or number 101, it’s just the competitive mentality.
‘It’s a difficult one because it’s so tough, you need to be mentally strong.’
Evans’ own World Women’s Championship campaign came to a surprise end in the quarter-finals to Jans amid, what she felt was an odd atmosphere for a big event at Ding Junhui’s Academy in Sheffield.
‘It all felt a bit strange,’ she said. ‘For me, it didn’t feel like a World Championship. We’ve never had it so early in the year, it was a bit surreal. Ding’s is a practice facility, not a venue for an actual event, for me, but it was a good event in the end.
‘The table’s were lovely, but for atmosphere it didn’t feel quite right. That’s just my opinion and I’m grateful we’ve got tournaments so I don’t want to be too harsh.
‘This might sound like sour grapes, but I said that when it was announced that it would be there. It’s a shame it was behind closed doors and people didn’t get to see it, but listen, they got the event on and fair play to Mink, she deserved it.’
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