Austria bound Evans claims seasons third title

REANNE Evans’ victory at the East Anglian Championship extended her unbeaten run on the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association circuit to 19 matches.

WLBSA East Anglian champion Reanne Evans with two-year-old daughter Lauren

The mother-of-one, from Dudley, West Midlands, defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 26-year-old cousin Maria Catalano 3-0 in the final at Cambridge Snooker Centre on Saturday, October 11.

 

“I’m pleased with the way I’m playing,” said the 22-year-old, who pocketed £200.

 

“I’m been cueing quite well so hopefully I can keep it up, and improve a little bit.”

 

Evans, who last won the title in 2006, dropped just one frame all day - against Sheffield’s Sarah Smith in the semi-finals. She ran out a 3-1 winner with breaks of 72, 41, 41 and 32.

 

In the quarter-finals, Evans posted a 55 against Derby’s England International Joanne Davies and added a 40 in the final.

 

Defending champion Katie Henrick went out 3-1 to Catalano in the second semi.

 

Evans, a record four-time WLBSA world champion and twice European champion, will celebrate her 23rd birthday in Austria later this month while defending the IBSF World Championship title which she won for the second time in Thailand last November.

 

In Derbyshire last month she won the first two WLBSA tournaments of the season – the Wytech Masters and the UK Championship.

 

But a clean sweep of women’s titles is on hold – at least for this season.

 

Desperate to become the first woman to qualify for the Main Tour, Evans misses the British Open in Rushden in November to compete in the EASB Pro-Ticket Tour event two in Leeds.

 

“It’s so difficult now,” she admitted. “I don’t think people realise how many good players there are now. You don’t really play the same game as you do with the women. You have to be a little more tighter.”

 

RESULTS (breaks):

 

PRELIMS: Pam Wood bt Hannah Jones 3-0, Emma Bonney (49, 36) bt Marianne Williams 3-0, Jenny Poulter bt Charlotte Holloway 3-1.

 

LAST 16: Katie Henrick bt Wood 3-0, Eva Palmius bt Jan Hughes 3-0, Martina Lumsden bt Gaye Jones 3-2, Maria Catalano bt Chris Sharpe 3-0, Bonney (32) bt June Banks (47) 3-1, Sarah Smith bt Georgina Holloway 3-0, Joanne Davies bt Naomi Clare 3-0, Reanne Evans bt Poulter 3-0.

 

QUARTER-FINALS: Henrick (52) bt Palmius 3-0, Catalano bt Lumsden 3-2, Smith (36, 37, 36) bt Bonney 3-1, Evans (55) bt Davies 3-0.

 

SEMI-FINALS: Catalano (39, 33) bt Henrick 3-1, Evans (72, 41, 41, 32) bt Smith 3-1.

 

FINAL (£200/£100): Evans (40) bt Catalano 3-0.

 

PLATE RESULTS:

 

PRELIMS: Marianne Williams bt Gaye Jones 2-0, Pam Wood bt Jenny Poulter 2-0.

 

QUARTER-FINALS: Wood bt Williams 2-1, Hannah Jones bt Georgina Holloway 2-0, Jan Hughes bt Naomi Clare 2-0, Chris Sharpe bt Charlotte Holloway 2-0.

 

SEMI-FINALS: Sharpe bt Hughes 2-1, Wood bt H Jones 2-1.

 

FINAL: Sharpe bt Wood 2-1.

 

JUNIORS RESULTS:

 

PRELIM: Hannah Jones bt Georgina Holloway 1-0.

 

SEMI-FINALS: Jones bt Joanne Davies 1-0, Naomi Clare bt Charlotte Holloway 1-0.

 

FINAL: Jones bt Clare 1-0.

 

SENIORS RESULTS:

 

PRELIMS: Eva Palmius bt Jenny Poulter 1-0, Gaye Jones bt Martina Lumsden 1-0.

 

SEMI-FINALS: Palmius bt Jan Hughes 1-0, Jones bt Sharpe 1-0.

 

FINAL: Palmius bt Jones 2-1.

 

The WLBSA is hosting six ranking events this season culminating in the World Championships in April.

 

Next ranking event:

 

British Open

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Rushden Snooker Centre

Glassbrook Road

Rusden

NN10 9TH

Tel: 01933 319191

Picture by Mandy Fisher