Seattle Set to Crown New US Open Champion
There will be a new name on the trophy at the WineCellars.com US Women’s Snooker Open with the semi-final line-up set following a dramatic day of action at Ox Billiards in Seattle.
With the exit of defending champion Mink Nutcharut at the quarter-final stage and inaugural winner Jamie Hunter absent this week, the tournament is set to crown its third different winer in three years on Sunday evening.
Hoping to go one better than a year ago will be three-time world champion Ng On Yee, who has so far hit the highest break of the tournament and is yet to drop a frame during the competition.
The Hong Kong China star secured top spot in her round robin group with a victory against Anupama Ramachdanran which saw her claim the opening frame on a respotted black, before she compiled an impressive break of 90 to complete victory.
Awaiting her in the last eight was Frances Tso of the United States – who matched her last eight run at the event in 2022 – and it was last season’s runner-up Ng who duly completed a 3-0 win to progress to the final day.
Next up for Ng will be England’s Tessa Davidson, who prevailed in a dramatic match against Narantuya Bayarsaikhan of Mongolia to win 3-2 on the final pink on Saturday evening.
World number nine Davidson made a strong start to the match with a break of 58, only to lose the opening frame on a respotted black, before herself claiming the following frame on the final ball to level at 1-1. The next two frames were also shared and the decider would again come down to the final balls, with a self-inflicted snooker on the yellow ultimately proving decisive as the match turned in Davidson’s favour.
The win is a landmark result for the 55-year-old and represents her first appearance in the semi-finals of a world ranking event for 25 years when she reached the final of the 1999 British Open in Plymouth, England.
In the bottom half of the draw England’s Rebecca Kenna saw off pool star Molina Ortiz 3-0 to maintain her 100% record of reaching the semi-finals of the US Open since the tournament was launched in 2022.
Having topped her group ahead of compatriot Davidson, Kenna came through against home player Ortiz to keep alive her hopes of a first world ranking title.
She will now face India’s Anupama Ramachandran in the second semi-final after the youngest player in the competition shocked defending champion and world number one Mink Nutcharut in the quarter-finals.
The 22-year-old had previously reached the last eight on four separate occasions on the WWS Tour, but would go one better here in Seattle as she came through a deciding frame against the Thai star to progress to the final day.
The competition will reach its conclusion on Sunday with the winner set to claim the first world ranking event of the 2024/25 season and become the third winner of the WineCellars.com US Women’s Snoker Open.
Watch all of the action from each of the two semi-finals and the title match from 10:00am local time (6pm BST) via the Ox Billiards YouTube, Facebook and Twitch channels.
