Born in Dudley, West Midlands, Evans began playing snooker at age 13. She competed in her first World Women's Snooker Championship in 2002, aged 16, when she reached the semi-finals. She won the women's world title 10 consecutive times between 2005 and 2014 and added further world titles in 2016 and 2019. Her other records on the women's tour include 12 UK Women's Snooker Championships, 58 ranking titles, and 90 consecutive victories between 2008 and 2011. She has achieved the highest break on the women's tour, having made 140 twice.
Granted a wildcard to the professional World Snooker Tour for the 2010–11 season, she became the first woman since Allison Fisher 16 years previously to compete professionally, but was relegated at the end of the season after 18 consecutive defeats. In 2013, she qualified for the Wuxi Classic as an amateur competitor, becoming the first woman to reach the final stages of a professional ranking snooker tournament. Granted wildcards to the World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds in 2015 and from 2017 to 2021, she reached the second qualifying round in 2017 after defeating Finnish player Robin Hull 10–8.
On International Women's Day in 2021, the World Snooker Tour announced that the two top-ranked players on the women's tour—then Evans and Ng On-yee—would receive two-year professional tour cards to begin in the 2021–22 season. Evans's only victory during her first two years on the professional tour came when she defeated Stuart Bingham in the last 128 of the 2023 Snooker Shoot Out, making her the first woman to win a televised match at a ranking event. Despite being relegated from the professional tour at the end of the 2022–23 season, she ended the season as the women's world number one, which secured her a new two-year professional tour card for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 seasons.
Evans competed in her first World Women's Snooker Championship in 2002, aged 16.[4] She defeated third seed Lynette Horsburgh 4–3 in the quarter-finals but lost 0–4 to eventual champion Kelly Fisher in the semi-finals.[5][6] She won her first ranking tournament, the Connie Gough Memorial Championship, in 2004. This was the only women's ranking event held in the 2003–04 season.[7]
Evans won her first world championship in 2005 with a 6–4 victory over Horsburgh in the final, which featured one frame that was replayed because of a problem with the scoring.[8] She retained the title in 2006, just six weeks before she was due to give birth, defeating Emma Bonney 5–3 in the final. She also won the 2006 WLBSA mixed doubles title, partnering with Mark Allen to defeat Sonia Chapman and Matthew Couch 3–0 in the final.[9]
In the 2007 world final, Evans was level 3–3 with Kate Henrick before winning the next two frames to claim her third successive title.[10] Evans made the highest break of the 2008 tournament, 102, and won 5–2 against June Banks in the final.[11] Evans defeated Maria Catalano in four of the next five world championship finals, including a 5–2 win in 2009, and a 5–1 margin in 2010.[12] A 5–1 victory against Emma Bonney in the 2011 final was Evans's 88th consecutive match win in women's snooker events.[13] Catalano and Evans were level at 2–2 in the 2012 final before Evans went on to win 5–3.[14] In the final against Catalano in 2013, Evans compiled two century breaks during the match, including a 117, the highest of the tournament, and won 6–3.[15][16] She won her tenth consecutive title in 2014 with a 6–0 defeat of Ng On-yee in the final.[17]
Evans and Ng On-yee before the final of the Paul Hunter Women's Classic 2017.
In the semi-finals of the 2015 championship, Ng and Evans were level at 2–2, before Ng went on to win 4–2.[18][19][20] The pair faced each other again in the 2016 final, when Evans won the first frame, before Ng took the next three.[21] Ng led 4–3 before Evans won three frames in a row to take the match 6–4 for her eleventh world championship win.[22] In 2017, Ng eliminated Evans 5–4 in the semi-finals.[23] Evans lost again in the 2018 semi-finals, after Catalano defeated her 5–4.[24] Evans won the 2019 Women's Tour Championship, held at the Crucible Theatre, defeating Mink Nutcharut in the semi-finals and Ng in the final.[25] She claimed her twelfth world title in 2019, with a 6–3 win in the final against Mink.[26] She was awarded an MBE in the 2020 Birthday Honours for her services to women's snooker.[27]
In September 2021, following an 18-month suspension of the Women's Snooker Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[28] Evans won the 2021 UK Women's Championship, defeating Rebecca Kenna 4–0 in the final.[29] In November 2021, she was runner-up to Ng in the Eden Women's Masters, losing the final 3–4 after having led 3–1.[30] In January 2022, she lost 3–4 to Mink in the final of the British Women's Open.[31] At the 2022 World Championship, Evans was the defending champion, but she lost 1–4 to Belgian player Wendy Jans in the quarter-finals, the first time she had not reached at least the semi-finals of the tournament.[32] She retained her number one place in the women's world rankings at the end of the 2021–22 season, although Ng and Mink closed the gap in ranking points.[33] After the 2023 Asia-Pacific Women's Championship, Mink replaced Evans as world number one.[34] Evans lost in the semi-finals of the 2023 World Championship to 19-year-old Chinese tour debutant Bai Yulu, who recovered from 1–3 behind to clinch a 5–3 victory.[35] Bai again eliminated Evans 5–3 in the semi-finals of the 2024 event, taking five consecutive frames after Evans had established a 3–0 lead.[36]
Widely recognised most successful female player in the sport's history,[37][38] with her ten consecutive Women's Snooker Championship titles from 2005 to 2014, and further titles in 2016 and 2019 for a total of 12 women's world titles, Evans surpassed Allison Fisher's previous record of seven.[39][40][41] Evans has also won a record 12 UK Women's Snooker Championships,[42] and recorded the highest break on the women's tour (140 twice).[37] Prior to her loss to Maria Catalano at the 2011 Northern Classic, she won a record 90 consecutive women's snooker matches.[43]
Evans won the IBSF Women's Snooker Championship in 2004, 2007, and 2008, with Wendy Jans the losing finalist on each occasion.[44] She did not travel to the 2009 championship in Hyderabad to defend her title as the cost of travelling would have been more than the prize money she could have earned.[45]
Evans reached the final of the Women's EBSA European Snooker Championship in 2004, but lost 3–5 to Jans.[46] In 2007 she won the title by defeating Jans 5–2 in the final,[47] and retained it in 2008 with a 5–3 victory against Emma Bonney.[48]
After winning 61 consecutive women's matches and defeating reigning world champion John Higgins 4–3 at the 2009 Six-red World Championship,[49] Evans was awarded a wildcard on the professional tour for the 2010–11 season, enabling her to enter all ranking events at the qualifying stage. This made her the first woman to play on the main tour since Allison Fisher in 1994–95.[50][51] Evans failed to win a match throughout her season on the tour, suffering 18 consecutive defeats.[52] She entered Q-School, but was unable to qualify for the main tour in the 2011–12 season.[53][54][55]
In the 2012–13 season, Evans won enough Q-School matches to earn a "top-up" place in the qualifying rounds for the 2013 Wuxi Classic, competing as an amateur.[56][57] In her qualifying match, she defeated Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5–4 to become the first woman to reach the final stages of a ranking snooker tournament.[58][59] Originally scheduled to play world number two Neil Robertson in the last 64, she then became one of four players selected to play an extra wildcard round against local Chinese opponents. She lost 2–5 to Chinese teenager Zhu Yinghui in the wildcard round.[60]
In the qualifying rounds for the 2017 World Snooker Championship, Evans defeated Robin Hull 10–8 in the first round, calling the victory the best of her career to that point.[63] She lost 6–10 to Lee Walker in the second round of qualifying. In the next four world championships, she exited in the first qualifying round each year, losing 7–10 to Dominic Dale in 2018, 2–10 to Zhang Yong in 2019, and to Andy Hicks by 3–6 in 2020 and 2–6 in 2021.[64][65]
At the 2019 Champion of Champions, Evans became the first female player to compete in the event. She lost 3–4 to Shaun Murphy in the first round, after coming back from 0–3 down to force a deciding frame.[66]
On International Women's Day in 2021, World Snooker announced that Evans and Ng On-yee, the top-two players in the women's world rankings, would receive two-year invitational tour cards to commence in the 2021–22 snooker season.[67] In the second ranking event of the season, the British Open, Evans was drawn in the first round against Mark Allen, her former partner and father of her daughter, with whom she had a strained relationship following a dispute over child support.[68] Evans refused Allen's offer of a handshake before the match began.[69] She took a 2–1 lead and led 60–22 in the fourth frame, but Allen came back to win 3–2.[70] Evans did not win any matches during her season on the tour, which ended with a 2–6 defeat to Lee Walker in the first round of qualifying for the 2022 World Snooker Championship.[71] Following her loss to Walker, Evans posted on social media that the "last year or so has been tough on and off [the] table" but that she was "working on it".[72] She later revealed that she had experienced an intermittent lack of sensation in her arm while playing, and tremors on one side of her body, which affected her play.[73] At the end of the 2021–22 season, Evans was entered into the Snooker Hall of Fame, along with Allison Fisher, for "outstanding contributions to the growth of snooker".[74]
Evans's only victory during her two years on tour came at the 2023 Snooker Shoot Out (2022–23 season),[75] when she defeated Stuart Bingham by 60 points to 8 in their one-frame encounter in the last-128 round, becoming the first woman to win a televised match at a ranking event.[76][77][78]
After losing in the first qualifying round of the 2023 World Snooker Championship, Evans ended the season ranked 126th in the snooker world rankings and was relegated from the professional tour.[79] However, she was runner-up in the 2023 British Women's Open the following month, which enabled her to end the season ranked number one in the World Women's Snooker rankings. This secured her a new two-year professional tour card to begin in the 2023–24 season.[80]
On 12 September 2024, Evans lost to Mink Nutcharut 4–2 in the first round at the English Open in the first match between two female players on the professional World Snooker Tour.[83]
In 2005, Evans began a relationship with Northern Irish professional snooker player Mark Allen. They had a daughter, Lauren Sophie, born at Russells Hall Hospital in May 2006 when both parents were 20 years old.[84] Evans and Allen ended their relationship in 2008.[85] The end of their relationship was described as acrimonious and led to legal disputes between the two players over child maintenance payments. Allen in 2022 noted that he no longer sees his daughter Lauren, but said "I still think about her all the time".[86]
Evans has been critical of the low prize money in women's snooker, stating that she won as little as £450 for winning one of her women's world titles. In 2015, at age 29, Evans was a ten-time women's world champion, but was still living in her parents' home with her then nine-year-old daughter because she could not afford to move out.[3]
^"Lynette Horsburgh's unusual hat-trick". Snooker Scene. Birmingham: Everton's News Agency. December 2004. p. 29.
^ abc"Past Champions". ibsf.info. International Billiards and Snooker Federation. Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
^ abcdefghijkl"Past Champions". womenssnooker.com. World Women's Snooker. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
^"June Banks wins second title of season". Snooker Scene. Birmingham: Everton's News Agency. January 2006. p. 24.
^"Catalano's second". Snooker Scene. Birmingham: Everton's News Agency. April 2006. p. 22.
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