On Yee Claims Ladies Classic
Ng On Yee won the first ever Paul Hunter Ladies Classic last weekend with a 4-1 victory against world number one Reanne Evans at the Stadthalle, Germany.
The pair met in the final of a WLBS event for the third time in 2016, Evans having come out at the Classic and World Championship events at the end of last season.
It was On Yee however who made the stronger start on this occasion, claiming the opening two frames to take an early lead, before Evans closed the gap by taking the third. The next two frames both came down to the colours, but a double on the brown helped On Yee to go two clear again at 3-1, before she set up what would prove to be the match-winning clearance with a snooker on the brown in the fifth.
The success is On Yee’s third career WLBS title to date and her first since the 2015 UK Championship last September. Earlier in the tournament she had found herself 3-1 down to Irina Gorbataya before winning the last three frames to reach the quarter-finals. From there the former world champion never really looked back, dropping just one frame in defeating Wendy Jans, Maria Catalano and Evans to take the title.
The 25-year-old, who remains ranked second in the WLBS ranking list, also hit the tournament high break during the third frame of her quarter-final victory against Jans, a clearance of 104 to the pink enough to secure the prize sponsored by Fracht.com & KSS Events.
“I was struggling a bit from the beginning with my form and some of the shots yesterday,” said a delighted On Yee. “After winning my last 16 match however, I was able to take a short break and regroup. I wasn’t really focusing on the century, but rather trying to play each shot individually and making the best of it.”
The Hong Kong ace described herself as ‘over the moon’ to have won the title and was pleased by how the event had unfolded as a whole, in particular praising the quality of the field, which included the top seven players on the WLBS world ranking list:
“It feels great to be here in Germany for the first ever Paul Hunter Ladies Classic. This is my very first time here in Germany and I enjoyed the good food, very nice people and the weather.
“It was a great venue and it was good to see so many players competing in the event. It had also been a while since I had played together with both Reanne and Wendy in the same tournament so that was a nice experience too.
“I really enjoyed the opportunity to play with so many friends around and I hope to continue to see more doors opening up for ladies snooker in the future. I am really looking forward to this season’s Eden World Championship which will be held in Asia for the very first time. Hopefully this will attract new faces to the game and create more opportunities for ladies snooker.”
The Paul Hunter Ladies Classic was the first event to be held outside of the UK in over a decade and the first of a new co-operation between the WLBS and the WPBSA, the world governing body for snooker and billiards.
For the first time, the final of the event was played alongside the quarter-finals of the professional competition staged by World Snooker at the Stadthalle venue and was enjoyed by a large number of spectators in attendance.
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