Reanne Evans gave former champion Ken Doherty a huge scare before her bid to become the first woman to qualify for the World Championship ended in a narrow defeat.
The 29-year-old from Dudley in the English Midlands pushed 1997 title-winner Doherty close before losing 10-8 to the Dubliner on Thursday.
Evans was given a place in the initial qualifying round after winning 10 consecutive ladies’ world titles.
And when she led 3-1 and 4-3 in the early stages at Ponds Forge, walking distance from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, northern England, which stages the World Championship proper, an historic result was on the cards.
But Doherty recovered to lead 5-4 at the end of the opening session and then held on in the evening to win 10-8.
However, Doherty still needs to win two more matches to reach the first round of the 2015 World Championship.
He was made to work hard for his victory against mother-of-one Evans, who was on the brink of taking the match to a deciding frame before Doherty produced a successful snooker on the pink to win the 18th frame 63-61.
“It was a struggle, the whole game was scrappy but I just dug in there,” Evans told the World Snooker website. “I’m happy to have stuck in there with a player who has been world champion and has so much experience, and to have given him a fright.
“I’m not used to playing these long matches so it’s good experience for me.
“From the start I could see that he was under it, he was twitching a bit. I just couldn’t manage to take control of the match.”
She added: “I didn’t play my best today, I just scrapped and fought all the way. There’s no reason why I can’t beat people like Ken if I play a bit better.
“If I could play in events like this more often, you never know. The ladies game is very different. I’ve got to take the positives.
“If it had gone 9-9 I think I would have won. I felt really good out there, although there were a few nerves. I just kept losing position because I’m not used to the tables,” Evans explained.
Apart from the odd ‘power shot’ there is, in theory, no reason why snooker cannot be a ‘mixed’ sport.
But the likes of Britain’s former women’s world champion Allison Fisher, feeling they were denied opportunities, have since gone on to enjoy lucrative careers on the female North American pool circuit.