Australian Women’s Snooker Open 2026 | Tournament Preview
The second event of the 2026/27 World Women’s Snooker Tour gets underway this weekend with the latest staging of the Australian Women’s Open from Mounties, Sydney, Australia.
The seventh edition of the world ranking event has attracted its largest-ever entry since its addition to the calendar in 2018, with 29 players in the draw, eclipsing the 27 who travelled to New South Wales two years ago.
The field will see six of the world’s top ten among those set to compete, with two-time former champions Onyee Ng and Mink Nutcharut to be joined by Reanne Evans, Narucha Phoemphul, Anupama Ramachandran and So Man Yan.
As in previous years, the competition will once again be played over four days, with the round robin groups to be completed over the first two. All of the players will begin in the group stage, with two players seeded in each of the six groups.
The top two from each group, plus four best third placed players will progress to the knockout rounds to be played over Monday/Tuesday.
Group A
Thailand’s Mink Nutcharut will be aiming to lift her first title on the World Women’s Snooker Tour since January 2025 this weekend, as she returns to a happy hunting ground having twice taken the first prize in Sydney before.
Aiming to become only the eighth player in WWS Tour history to win 10 or more world ranking event titles during her career, Nutcharut will also be hoping to improve upon her semi-final run in 2025, when she lost to eventual champion Ploychompoo Laokiatphong.
The group stage will see her come up against last year’s Seniors champion Carlie Tait, who is a three-time quarter-finalist at the event, losing out to Mink on each occasion including in 2025.
Also returning are Christine Firth and Xuejun Alice Wu – both also former quarter-finalists at the event – while Australia’s Joey Leung is one of five debutants at the event.
Group B
Reanne Evans will make her first appearance at the Australian Women’s Open since 2018 as she aims to improve upon recent final appearances at the World and UK Championship tournaments since May.
The 12-time world champion, who was a semi-finalist in Sydney in 2018, will take on Joey Tohme in the group stages, with Tohme having reached her maiden ranking event semi-final in 2025.
The group is completed by a further three tournament debutants, with Australia’s Cathy Small, New Zealand’s Jazmin Brown and China’s Coco Shao all set to make their first appearances on the WWS Tour.
Group C
Hong Kong China’s Onyee Ng is the most successful player in the history of the Australian Women’s Open since it became a world ranking event in 2018 and heads Group C at this year’s event.
Twice a winner in 2018 and 2023, Ng was also runner-up in 2019 and 2024, and will be looking to capture her third title of the current year following victories at the Belgian Open and British Open tournaments.
She will be joined by Australia’s Theresa Whitten, who was also paired with Ng at the same stage in 2024 and reached the quarter-finals of the event for the first time 12 months ago.
Also present are China’s Shuangyu Jia, as well as Australian pair Kathy Blunden and Rhonda Knight.
Group D
India’s Anupama Ramachandran is the top seed in Group D as she makes her debut at the event in Sydney.
The 24-year-old made a strong start to the season at last month’s UK Women’s Championship event in Leeds, at which she notably recovered from 0-2 down to defeat world champion Panchaya Channoi in the quarter-finals, before losing out to eventual champion Bai Yulu in the following round.
With no ranking points to defend until February 2027, Ramachandran is well-placed to consolidate her position inside of the world’s top eight with another strong performance this week.
Among those standing in her way will be Australian number one and former Australian Open finalist Jessica Woods, with the pair set for their second Tour meeting and first since Ramachandran scored a 4-1 win at the 2025 World Championship.
New Zealand’s Agnes Kimura and Australia’s Linda Larrea also return once again, while the final debutant in the draw Heidi Royle completes the section.
Group E
World number five Narucha Phoemphul is the highest seed in Group E as the 20-year-old aims to go one better than her run to the Sydney final in 2025.
Having previously reached her maiden semi-final at Mounties in 2024, Phoemphul will be hoping to continue the trend and lift her first ranking event title with success at the event on Tuesday.
She is joined by Hong Kong China’s Yuk Fan Lau, who makes her first appearance in the competition having recently broken into the world’s top 20 ranked players for the first time.
Australian duo Di Merritt and Monica Brettle are also present in the section, while Indonesia’s Kenny Chandra makes her first appearance since she reached the last eight in 2022.
Group F
Hong Kong China’s So Man Yan is the top ranked player in Group F as the world number nine looks to continue her strong run of form on Tour which has seen her reach the knockout rounds of her last 12 tournaments, including four quarter-finals.
She will face compatriot Yee Ting Cheung – herself also ranked inside of the world’s top 20 – with the pair surprisingly having only met once previously on the WWS Tour, with So having taken a 2-1 victory at the 2025 British Open.
Under-21 / Seniors
For the second time at the Australian Open there will also be side-tournaments held for Under-21 and Seniors players.
The Junior Championship will see last year’s champion Narucha Phoemphul and debutant Jazmin Brown contest the title, which will not carry ranking points due to fewer than four entries having been received.
The Seniors Championship meanwhile will see 12 players take part – up 50% from 2025 – with Carlie Tait looking to defend the title she won last year against New Zealand’s Agnes Kimura.
The action gets underway on Saturday from 10:00am AEST, with the latest match results and standings available via WPBSA SnookerScores.
