REANNE Evans’ bid for a clean sweep this season on the women’s snooker circuit moved a step closer after the Paul Wood-sponsored £1,000 Connie Gough National Championship (on Saturday, March 6).

The 24-year-old five-time world champion from Dudley defeated Maria Catalano 3-1 in the final at the Stadium Snooker Club, Hall Green, Birmingham.

Victory over world number two Catalano, also from Dudley, extended Evans’ impressive winning run on the WLBSA tour to 57 matches.

She secured her 22nd WLBSA ranking title with breaks of 41 and 45 after world number two Catalano, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 28-year-old cousin, had squared the match at 1-1.

Evans compiled runs of 104 and 64 in a 3-0 quarter-final win over Marianne Williams, from Surrey.

Cambridge hosts the world championship, the season finale, next month.

“It’d be good to do the clean sweep,” said Evans. “That’s what keeps me concentrating.

“I’m always confident; it’s on the day, really. You have to be confident to win.”

Losing semi-finalists Emma Bonney, the world number three from Portsmouth, and world number four Katie Henrick, from Bickley, Kent, both survived fifth-frame deciders in the last 16.

Bonney, 33, edged out Gaye Jones while Henrick, 29, accounted for Tina Owen-Sevilton.

Derby schoolgirl Hannah Jones, 13, collected her third Plate trophy and her eighth junior title. Gaye Jones, from Melksham, Wiltshire, clinched the Seniors’ title.

The Connie Gough National Championship was the fifth of six WLBSA ranking events this season.

Paul Wood is also sponsoring the WLBSA’s world snooker championship, in Cambridge on April 3-7, and the WLBSA’s world billiards championship, in Birmingham on April 8, to the tune of £1,000 each.

The 49-year-old from Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, who has suffered from cerebral palsy all his life and is confined to a wheelchair, said: “I’m so proud to have sponsored the tournament. It was wonderful. The ladies were absolutely marvellous.”

RESULTS (breaks)

PRELIM: Jasmine Bolsover beat Naomi Clare 3-0, Hannah Jones beat Joanne Davies 3-1.

LAST 16: Reanne Evans beat Bolsover 3-0, Marianne Williams beat Martina Lumsden 3-0, Katie Henrick (44) beat Tina Owen-Sevilton 3-2, Vicky Ashby beat Suzie Opacic 3-1, Emma Bonney (53) beat Gaye Jones 3-2, Jenny Poulter beat Jodie Symes 3-1, Eva Palmius beat Maureen Logan 3-0, Maria Catalano (58, 53) beat H Jones 3-1.

QUARTER-FINALS (£50): Evans (104, 64) beat Williams 3-0, Henrick beat Ashby 3-0, Bonney beat Poulter 3-0, Catalano (71) beat Palmius 3-0.

SEMI-FINALS (£100): Evans beat Henrick 3-0, Catalano (48) beat Bonney 3-1.

FINAL (£400/£200): Evans (45, 41) beat Catalano 3-1.

PLATE

QUARTER-FINALS: Naomi Clare beat Maureen Logan 2-0, Jodie Symes beat Joanne Davies 2-1, Gaye Jones beat Tina Owen-Sevilton 2-1, Hannah Jones beat Jasmine Bolsover 2-0.

SEMI-FINALS: Clare beat Symes 2-0, H Jones beat G Jones 2-0.

FINAL: H Jones beat Clare 2-0.

SENIORS

PRELIM: Eva Palmius beat Martina Lumsden 1-0,

SEMI-FINALS: Marianne Williams beat Palmius 1-0, Gaye Jones beat Jenny Poulter 1-0.

FINAL: Jones beat Williams 2-0.

JUNIORS

PRELIM: Jodie Symes beat Naomi Clare 1-0.

SEMI-FINALS: Symes beat Jasmine Bolsover 1-0, Hannah Jones (31) beat Joanne Davies 1-0.

FINAL: Jones beat Symes 2-0.

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