REBECCA Kenna cannot seem to get over her semi-final hoodoo at the World Women’s Snooker Championships.

The Keighley potter has just lost 5-1 to eventual champion Nutcharut “Mink” Wongharuthai in the last-four in Sheffield, making it her fourth defeat at that stage since 2016, and keeping up her run of never making the final.

She told the Keighley News: “It was my fourth semi-final appearance, and I made the quarters last time (in 2019) too.

“I normally have close games with Mink but she was just stronger than me on the day, and her break-building was better, though all but one of the frames were close.

“She’d been over from Thailand for a few weeks, practising on these tables, so she was probably more used to them than I was.”

Kenna won all three games in her qualifying group, before going on to beat Tessa Davidson 4-3 in a second round clash and Emma Parker 4-2 in the quarter-finals.

But the world number four from Keighley still wasn’t satisfied with her efforts earlier this month, saying: “I wasn’t that pleased with my cueing throughout the tournament.

“My break building wasn’t as strong as it had been in practice.

“I wanted something to come together but other than some 40 breaks, I didn’t really get going.

“I’ve got my own table and match cloth, but they’re faster at that venue (the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy) and you need to adapt better than I did.”

Wongharuthai’s victory might act as an inspiration for Kenna, with the Thai star becoming the first woman other than Reanne Evans or Ng On Yee to win the Women’s world title for 19 years.

The Keighley potter mused: “Mink is the only one who has really been winning things other than (world number one and two respectively) Reanne or Ng, like the Australian Open just before the pandemic hit.

“She got to the final of the last World Women’s Snooker Championships too, but lost to Reanne, and all of this has put her up to number three in the world.

“It’s hard to compete with Reanne or Ng, as they’re full-time, so they can put in more hours of practice than the rest of us who have other jobs.

“But Mink has a good set up in Thailand, with the tables she has and her management, and I feel I can beat any of the three of them on my day.

“I do think the gap is closing between the top two and the rest, as more women are competing and the quality is rising.”

Kenna is competing at the World Snooker Federation Championship in Sheffield this week, a mixed-gender event involving nearly 300 amateur players.

Whoever wins the final of that mammoth competition on Saturday will, like Wongharuthai after her Worlds victory, earn a coveted two-year World Snooker Tour Card, allowing them to compete on the professional circuit from the start of the 2022-23 season.