Landywood British Women’s Open 2025 | Tournament Preview
The World Women’s Snooker Tour (WWS) continues from Friday with the staging of the Landywood British Women’s Open at the Landywood Snooker Club from 28-30 March.
The penultimate world ranking event of the season will see the world’s leading players including defending champion Ng On Yee, world number one Mink Nutcharut, reigning world champion Bai Yulu and record six-time British Open winner Reanne Evans, descend upon the stunning Walsall venue for the third time.
As the final opportunity to earn ranking points ahead of the season-ending World Championship, the tournament is set to be keenly contested with the likes of US Open runner-up Anupama Ramachandran due to compete at the event for the first time, while Ellise Scott and Tessa Davidson will also be present to defend their Under-21 and Seniors titles respectively.
In the main competition, the top four seeds have each been seeded through to the last 16 stage due to begin on Saturday evening.
The remaining 28 players have been drawn into seven groups of four, with the top two players from each group to progress to the knockout stages. Each of the group winners and three best runner-ups will advance straight to the last 16, with the remaining four qualifiers to contest two preliminary round matches.
Alongside the main tournament there will also be side-tournaments held for Under-21 and Seniors players, as well as a Challenge Cup on Sunday for players who do not reach the quarter-finals.
Group A
Thailand’s Narucha Phoemphul will be the seeded player in Group A as the 19-year-old makes her second appearance at the British Open following her last 32 run in 2023.
Up to a career-high world ranking following her run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open earlier this season, she is set to face a range of international players including Ho Yee Ki of Hong Kong China, Iran’s Zeinab Shahi and England’s Sarah Dunn.
Group B
World number five Rebecca Kenna returns to the British Open hoping to improve upon a streak of four successive British Open semi-finals since 2018 and to claim an elusive first world ranking title on the WWS Tour.
In an all-English group, she will begin with matches against Lesley Roberts and – perhaps most intriguingly – both Zoe Killington and Laura Killington as the teenage sisters have been drawn together in the main competition.
Group C
India’s Anupama Ramachandran will make her British Open debut this weekend as she looks to continue her breakthrough season on the WWS Tour. The world number seven reached her second career semi-final in Bruges last month and stands in sixth position on the one year rankings taking into results from this season only.
Awaiting her will be an interesting group which includes talented juniors Chloe Payne and Daisy May Oliver, as well as Germany’s Diana Schuler, who makes only her third appearance at the British Open having reached the knockout rounds two years ago.
Group D
Yee Ting Cheung returns to a venue at which she impressed at a year ago as she reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the second time and led world number one Mink Nutcharut 2-0, before eventutally succumbing to a 3-2 defeat.
She will face compatriot So Man Yan – who remarkably is set to make her British Open debut after 16 years as a WWS Tour regular – with Louise Jordan and Scotland’s Deborah Fladgate completing the group.
Group E
England’s Jasmine Bolsover will head up Group E as the 25-year-old looks to improve upon last 16 runs at the British Open in 2022 and 2024.
She finds herself in an intriguing group which will feature the experienced Jaique Ip Wan In – a quarter-finalist at the event back in 2018 – as well as rising star Ellise Scott and England’s Selina Dean.
Group F
The second all-English group of the competition will feature world number nine Tessa Davidson, who is set to make an incredible 13th appearance at the British Open, having reached the final back in 1999.
She will take on Emma Powers-Richardson – who reached the knockout rounds at a WWS event for the first time a year ago – Sophia Drozd and Rose Nicholson in what is set to be a competitive group.
Group G
The final group of the competition will be led by Scotland’s Sophie Nix, who will be aiming to extend her streak of four consecutive qualifications from her group as she targets a move up the world ranking list.
She will take on Hong Kong China’s Chan Wai Lam, England’s Connie Stephens and Kate Le Gallez of Guernsey in what promises to be another tightly contested section of the draw.
Under-21 / Seniors
A strong field of eight juniors will contest the Under-21 title in Landywood with defending champion Ellise Scott among those who will target victory in the side-event competition.
Narucha Phoemphul will be looking to make it three titles for the season following junior wins at the Masters and Belgian Open events, with Hong Kong China’s Chan Wai Lam a potential semi-final opponent.
Tessa Davidson meanwhile looks to extend her winning streak at Seniors competitions which stretches back to the 2023 UK Championship and has seen her take her Over-40s title haul to an impressive 14 since January 2022.
Set to stand in her way will be a field of eight players including Germany’s Diana Schuler and English duo Sarah Dunn and Lesley Roberts, who complete the top four seeds.
All the action gets underway on Friday from 12:00pm GMT, with the latest match results and standings available via WPBSA SnookerScores.
