Reanne Evans and Luca Brecel have won the 2024 Mixed Doubles event yesterday evening. They beat Rebecca Kenna and Mark Selby in the final. Here is the report by WST:
EVANS AND BRECEL CROWNED IN MANCHESTER
Reanne Evans and Luca Brecel combined to capture the World Mixed Doubles title, beating Mark Selby and Rebecca Kenna 4-2 in the final at Manchester Central.
The duo were this year’s most decorated pair, with Evans having 12 Women’s World Championship titles to her name and Brecel being the current World Champion. However, they only clinched their place in the final courtesy of taking the final frame this afternoon, when they lost 3-1 to Selby and Kenna.
It’s second time lucky for Evans, who was paired with seven-time Crucible king Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2022. On that occasion they missed out on a place in the final by a single frame.
Brecel’s hit and miss season thus far has seen him miss out on next week’s Players Series finale, the Johnstone’s Paint Tour Championship. However, his first piece of silverware of the season will act as a welcome boost heading into the defence of his World Championship title.
Selby and Kenna suffer defeat in the final for a second consecutive season. They were runners-up to Neil Robertson and Mink Nutcharut last time around.
It was Brecel who got this evening’s final up and running with a break of 57 to take the opener. They then added the second to lead 2-0.
Selby had an opportunity to take the third and reduce their arrears, but missed a straightforward final blue. Eventually, he was given another chance and did make it 2-1. That was followed up by a run of 67 by the Leicester cueman to restore parity.
Brecel and Evans moved 3-2 ahead by taking the fifth, before a contribution of 59 from the Belgian in the sixth gave them the title.
“It’s taken 22 years to win a final on television. I know Luca carried me a little bit, but I’ve been playing a long time and it is fantastic to lift a trophy and play in a final like this, alongside all of these great players. The crowd have been fantastic and I’ve really enjoyed myself.”
Reanne Evans
12-time Women’s World Champion
Evans added: “Playing in these sort of events and getting the recognition that the women deserve and the support from these top players is only going to help the women and help the game. Hopefully there is a lot more to come. Bigger and better and always hoping and believing in the future.”
Brecel said: “It was a special occasion to play in this tournament. I was looking forward to it as soon as I knew I was in it. I always felt we had a good chance to win it because we are a really strong team. If we played a bit closer to our normal standards we could have made it a bit easier for ourselves.”
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
The standard wasn’t always the highest but that is to be expected as the players are not used to this type of format and there is additional pressure because they feel additional responsibility: They don’t want to let their partner down. The crowd was decent all along. Stephen Hendry was surprisingly full of compliments for the women who certainly played their part in this event. In general, their tactical nous was good, but their scoring power is not yet quite at the required level.
The venue looks nice and the cuezone in particular benefitted from a special effort by WST to make it bigger and better.
Picture by Matt Huart
Matt Huart wasn’t on duty … so he took loads of pictures and shared them on the Women Snooker Facebook page. Well worth a look if you can. They are awesome!
Congratulations Reanne and Luca!
Finally … with Luca in action in the final, there was of course a special interest from the Belgian snooker fans. Amongst them, the owner of the famous Brussel’s Hair Salon “Alexandre de Paris”. I heard that “Alexandre” (not his real name) was so thrilled by Luca and Reanne’s win that he contacted WST and offered his services for next season event. He’s willing to come “on site” to offer every player an original haircut with their hair dyed in the colour of their team. Asked about Luca, he said: “I know that Luca poses a particular challenge, but I like a good challenge! I will be creative!”
4 thoughts on “Reanne Evans and Luca Brecel are the 2024 Mixed Doubles Champions”
Well, the first time they had this mixed doubles, everyone was waxing lyrical about Mink’s framewinning break of 70-something, but it did not have any positive impact on the rest of her tour-performance. However, maybe it would be better to have this mixed doubles in the beginning next year. especially because it could introduce Bai Yulu, who probably has the most expectations among the women.
In any case I hated to read some social media comments how the women dragged the men down: fact is that the first day which I saw, the men were not much to wrote home about and since it was not scotch doubles, nothing prevented them from making bigger breaks thank they did.
I have doubts about the format for this ‘Mixed Doubles’ event. I think Neil Robertson’s suggestion of a blend of singles and doubles frames might work better. It’s possible the event was hampered a little without Bai Yulu, who just won the Women’s World Championship a couple of weeks ago.
But my biggest problem is that this event really should be at the start of the season, not at the end. Effectively we are promoting women players who might have lost all their matches, and are about to be relegated from the tour. Far better to introduce them at the start of a season and allow people to follow their progress.
Agreed Lewis. And as you already suggested a “rookies” championship to introduce the new players to the fans.
There are already 10 new players guaranteed for 2024-25, and it’s possible some more will qualify via Q School (particularly from Asia). I suppose they will have a quiet introduction in the Summer Championship League. But yes, in general WST haven’t really done well in promoting new players, either young players or women. The Mixed Doubles is actually a bit of a risk: its very hard for players to shine in a doubles format, as we saw.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Well, the first time they had this mixed doubles, everyone was waxing lyrical about Mink’s framewinning break of 70-something, but it did not have any positive impact on the rest of her tour-performance. However, maybe it would be better to have this mixed doubles in the beginning next year. especially because it could introduce Bai Yulu, who probably has the most expectations among the women.
In any case I hated to read some social media comments how the women dragged the men down: fact is that the first day which I saw, the men were not much to wrote home about and since it was not scotch doubles, nothing prevented them from making bigger breaks thank they did.
I have doubts about the format for this ‘Mixed Doubles’ event. I think Neil Robertson’s suggestion of a blend of singles and doubles frames might work better. It’s possible the event was hampered a little without Bai Yulu, who just won the Women’s World Championship a couple of weeks ago.
But my biggest problem is that this event really should be at the start of the season, not at the end. Effectively we are promoting women players who might have lost all their matches, and are about to be relegated from the tour. Far better to introduce them at the start of a season and allow people to follow their progress.
Agreed Lewis. And as you already suggested a “rookies” championship to introduce the new players to the fans.
There are already 10 new players guaranteed for 2024-25, and it’s possible some more will qualify via Q School (particularly from Asia). I suppose they will have a quiet introduction in the Summer Championship League. But yes, in general WST haven’t really done well in promoting new players, either young players or women. The Mixed Doubles is actually a bit of a risk: its very hard for players to shine in a doubles format, as we saw.