England’s Rebecca Kenna wins inaugural Hong Kong World Women’s Masters title, beating China’s Bai Yulu 4-1 in the final
- The world number three emerges triumphant in a tournament that featured the world’s top four players
- Bai, 17, fails to reproduce the form that helped her to a tournament-high break of 125 in the quarter-finals
England’s Rebecca Kenna is the world tour’s unofficial activist for the growth of women’s snooker, wanting to help more young girls play the game and make a career for themselves.
On Sunday, she finally helped herself. The 30-year-old from Yorkshire won her first tournament of significance when she defeated rising Chinese star Bai Yulu 4-1 in the final of the Hong Kong World Women’s Masters at General Snooker Club.
The world No 3 has reached multiple finals and semi-finals in the three years she has been playing the sport but has finally claimed the big prize, along with a cheque for HK$12,000.
And she knew she had to be at her best, having lost 3-0 to world under-21 champion Bai in the group stages and almost failing to reach the last eight after previously losing to Hong Kong’s So Man-yan 3-2.
“I knew I was in a hard group with Bai Yulu there,” said Kenna. “I didn’t play very well against So Man-yan so I didn’t feel as if I deserved to go through. But sometimes in this game, you need a bit of luck, so once I did get through the group I knew I had to up my game and that’s what I did.
“Bai’s break building is fantastic, she got 125 yesterday [in the quarter-finals], so I knew I had to stay solid.