Evans Chases 13th World Title Against Teenage Sensation Channoi in Dongguan Final
History on the Line as Record Champion Meets Breakthrough Star
England's Reanne Evans will contest the final of the 2026 World Women's Snooker Championship against 18-year-old Thailand's Panchaya Channoi on Tuesday at the Snooker Sports Arena in Dongguan Changping, China. The match begins at 12:00 CST (05:00 BST) and will be broadcast live internationally via YouTube. It will be the first competitive meeting between the two players on the World Women's Snooker Tour.
Evans, currently ranked world number four, arrives in the final having not dropped a single world final in her career — a remarkable 100% record across 12 appearances. Her most recent world title came in 2019, meaning this represents her first final in seven years. On Monday she eliminated three-time world champion OnYee Ng 5-1, compiling a top break of 55 in what was described as a comfortable victory. Should she lift the Mandy Fisher Trophy once more, a 13th world title would cement her status as the most decorated player in the history of the women's game — a distinction she already holds by considerable distance.
Channoi's Breakthrough Run Redefines Her Career Trajectory
Standing between Evans and that landmark achievement is Channoi, whose performances in Dongguan have been nothing short of exceptional for a player who had never previously advanced beyond the last 16 in three prior World Championship appearances. The Thai teenager eliminated reigning champion Bai Yulu at the quarter-final stage before defeating compatriot Mink Nutcharut 5-3 in Monday's semi-final to secure her place in the title match. Regardless of Tuesday's outcome, Channoi is now guaranteed to enter the world's top 10 for the first time.
Victory would bring with it a series of significant landmarks. Channoi would become the third Thai world champion following Mink Nutcharut (2022) and Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan (2023), and would be the youngest world champion since Ann-Marie Farren claimed the title in 1987. She would also be the fourth first-time winner from the past five stagings of the event — a statistic that underlines how rapidly the field has diversified at the top of the women's game in recent years.
Channoi Completes Under-21 Title Defence on Same Day
Monday also produced a remarkable personal achievement for Channoi away from the main event. Earlier in the day, she successfully defended her World Women's Under-21 Championship title, defeating China's 14-year-old Wang Ruotong 3-2 in the final having trailed 0-2. Ruotong had compiled breaks of 33 and 43 to move to within one frame of the title, but Channoi responded with a run of 74 on her way to completing a memorable comeback. She had earlier in the day beaten Yitong Wang 3-0 in the Under-21 event and defeated local favourite Liu Ziling en route to retaining that trophy — all before her main event semi-final against Mink. The physical and mental demands of contesting three matches across a single day makes her passage to the world final all the more notable.
Xinshun Makes History in Seniors Decider
The penultimate day of competition in Dongguan also saw the conclusion of the World Women's Seniors Championship, where China's Deng Xinshun became the first Chinese player to win the over-40s event, claiming the title in a black-ball decider against a compatriot in an all-Chinese final. The dramatic conclusion to that contest added further colour to a day that delivered considerable storylines across all three competitions running concurrently at the venue.
What to Expect in Tuesday's Final
The best-of-11-frames format gives both players ample opportunity to impose their game. Evans' experience of major finals — and specifically her unbeaten record in world finals — is perhaps her most formidable asset entering the match. No player in the history of the women's game has lost a world final and then returned to win one, though Evans herself has never been in the position of needing to test that particular statistic.
For Channoi, the occasion itself is new territory, yet her composure in eliminating both the reigning champion and a seasoned semi-finalist on successive days suggests a temperament that belies her age. Whether she can extend Thailand's recent dominance of the event or whether Evans rewrites the record books once more, Tuesday's final in Dongguan promises to be a genuinely historic occasion for women's snooker. Match and tournament information is available via WPBSA SnookerScores.
