Women's snooker on the rise - Evans

Nine-time world ladies' champion Reanne Evans defeated Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-4 to qualify for the final stages of the Wuxi Classic in China.

Evans, the only woman in the draw, came back from 3-0 and 4-3 down for her first win in a full ranking event.

"It's definitely the best result of my career so far. Hopefully this will show other women what can be done in snooker," said 27-year-old Evans.

She faces Neil Robertson, who scored a 147 break against Mohammed Khairy.

Maureen McCarthy Evans is not the first woman to compete with the men. Maureen McCarthy holds the unwanted record for the lowest number of points scored of two at the Benson & Hedges Championship. Snooker Scene Blog external-link

The Australian recorded the second maximum of his career and 98th in snooker history in a 5-0 win over Egyptian Khairy, at one point scoring 451 unanswered points.

Robertson had to play several difficult positional shots in his 147 effort, but executed them superbly, including a clever shot to dislodge the final pink from the side cushion when potting the brown.

Evans, from Dudley in the West Midlands, was handed a wildcard to the World Snooker Tour in 2010-11, becoming the first woman to compete on the main circuit for 15 years but failed to win a match throughout the season.

She played in Q School - the qualifying event for the tour - earlier this month, and though she did not earn a tour card, she won enough matches to gain entry into the Wuxi Classic, competing as an amateur.

Evans, who was the only women in the Wuxi Classic qualifiers, added: "I've never been to China before but I'm really excited about it now and hopefully it will give me the chance to boost my profile out there.

"I started off slowly today, I was a bit nervous early on, but once I won a frame I settled down and played well. My safety was good and that's what got me through in the end. I felt fine in the last frame then afterwards I was speechless."

There were also wins for Mark King, Martin Gould, Rory McLeod and David Gilbert.