Reanne Evans’s World dream ended by Ken Doherty in qualifying thriller

Reanne Evans’ attempt to make history by becoming the first woman to reach the World Snooker Championships ended at the first hurdle in Sheffield on Thursday with a 10-8 first qualifying round defeat to Ken Doherty. The scoreline, though, hardly does the match justice. It certainly feels unfair to see the defeat as a failure.

Over more than eight hours of spiralling tension Evans, the 29-year-old 10-times women’s world champion, gave Doherty – who has featured in 18 of the last 21 world championships, is a three-times finalist and won the tournament in 1997 – a serious scare. The match was nip-and-tuck throughout. Evans led 3-1 and 4-3, ended the morning session 5-4 down before battling back to 6-6 in the evening. Doherty edged ahead again – 7-6, 8-6 – before Evans took the 15th frame for 8-7.

Doherty edged an epic 16th frame, during which Evans had led 57-0, but was pegged back to 9-8. In the next Evans had the upper hand and with pink and black remaining Doherty needed a snooker. He got one, then produced a brilliant pot on the pink and with the clock ticking towards 11.30pm rolled in the black for one of the tensest wins of his career.

It was an incongruous setting for such sporting drama. Ponds Forge is more readily associated with log flumes and swimming-pool blue than snooker cues and green baize, and, a couple of modest banners apart, the Sheffield sport centre’s regular clientele would be forgiven for failing to realise that a world championship qualifying tournament – and potentially a moment of snooker history – was taking place behind blink-and-you’ll-miss-them doors in the corner of the foyer. But the clues were there if you looked for them: a few tell-tale long, thin carrying cases in among the squash rackets and sports bags, the odd flash of a snazzy waistcoat striding past the Speedo shop.

Behind those unassuming doors, though, 128 world championship hopefuls are being whittled down to 16. Eleven tables are nestled next to each other in the International Hall, a space more regularly reserved for badminton and basketball. Red dividers separate the tables – it is all more cubicle than Crucible. The venue for the world championships proper feels a long way away but it really is not – the venerable old Crucible is barely 100 yards across the city, which adds an element of cruelty to already high-pressure qualifying proceedings. Take a look at what you could’ve won.

Inside the arena the spectacle may be hushed – save for the rhythmic tock-tock of ball on ball, the occasional knuckle-knock on table in appreciation, a disappointed sigh here and there – but the importance is palpable. The world championships are just three games away. These are the hard yards. And they matter.

They would have mattered to Evans more than most. She dominates the world of women’s snooker and has won 10 world titles in a row, a run that began in 2005 when she was just 19. She won the one edition when seven-and-a-half months pregnant (an achievement she ranks as the proudest of her career); now her nine-year daughter Lauren follows her to every tournament. She has spoken of being confronted some astonishing instances of sexism during her career.

This was Evans’ second attempt to become the first woman to reach the world championships. She lost 10-6 to Sam Baird at this stage in 2011 but became the first female qualifier for the main stages of a ranking event in the 2013 Wuxi Classic. The prize money on offer for victory was £6,000 – more than the total prize money of her last five world titles combined.

Two further qualifying matches would have awaited had she prevailed here but she displayed more than enough over the 18 frames to prove she deserves her place at this event. But it is Doherty who edges closer to the Crucible. Evans, though, can take comfort in the trail that she is blazing.