Just four players remain in the race to win the 2025 World Women’s Snooker Championship following Sunday’s quarter-finals in Dongguan Changping, China.
Day six of the competition saw former champions Mink Nutcharut, Baipat Siripaporn and reigning champion Bai Yulu keep their respective bids for a second world title alive, while Xia Yuyin continued to break new ground by reaching the semi-finals for the first time.
Thai Former Champions to Clash
Current world number one Mink Nutcharut was the first to secure her place in the penultimate day for a fifth successive year with a comfortable 4-0 victory against India’s Anupama Ramachandran in the opening session.
Top breaks of 34 and 47 in the final frame were the highlight as the Thai star edged a hard-fought encounter to secure a win that has also guaranteed that she will finish the season as world number one for the second time.
Next up will be a repeat of the 2023 semi-final against compatriot Baipat Siripaporn, who battled past England’s Rebecca Kenna 4-2 to reach her third World Championship semi-final.
It was Kenna who scored the heavier of the two with runs of 66, 38 and 32, but Siripaporn would ultimately win a number of close frames on the final balls to set-up an all-Thai semi-final. The victory also means that this is the first ever World Women’s Championship which will not feature an English player at the semi-final stage.
China Duo Progress
In the bottom half of the draw it was China’s Bai Yulu who extended her unbeaten World Championship run to 15 matches since the start of 2024 with a 4-2 victory against three-time former champion Ng On Yee at the quarter-final stage.
Hong Kong China’s Ng made a flying start with a break of 62 to open the match, but it would be Bai who would assert herself upon the match with runs of 82, 54, 45, 41 and 33 enough to see her reach the semi-finals of the event for a third consecutive year since she joined the World Women’s Snooker Tour.
She will await fellow Chinese player Xia Yuyin, who continued her career-best run at the tournament with a 4-1 success against India’s Amee Kamani to set up an all-China contest in Monday’s second semi-final.
Breaks of 45 and 38 where the highlight for Xia who largely dominated the encounter against Kamani, as she bids to lift the Mandy Fisher Trophy for the first time in her career.
Under-21 / Seniors Down to Final Four
Day six also saw the start of the Under-21 and Seniors World Championship events, with each tournament reaching the last four stage.
The biggest surprise result so far came in the junior competition as top seed Narucha Phoemphul suffered a 3-1 defeat to 14-year-old compatriot Phakwalan Kongkaew at the quarter-final stage. The talented youngster, who is also known as Beam and hails from the same region as world number one Mink Nutcharut, will take on 16-year-old Panchaya Channoi in the first semi-final.
There is also a youthful pairing in the second half of the draw as 16-year-old local hero Liu Ziling of China will meet 13-year-old Thai Natcharin Sornprasert for a place in the final.
In the Seniors competition England’s Tessa Davidson continued her title defence with a 3-1 success against home player Heng Huang to set up a last four battle with Rulian Wu in the top half of the draw.
There could yet be a repeat of last year’s final as China’s Han Fang won two matches to progress to the last four and a contest with compatriot Xiaomin Su, who came back from 0-2 down to edge out Germany’s Diana Schuler on Sunday evening.
The action continues from Dongguan Changping with all matches from the main competition available to watch via the WPBSA YouTube channel.