Evans is the reigning IBSF World Ladies' and WLBSA World Champion

Reanne Evans lost 4-2 to China's Liu Chuang in the Players Tour Championship on her professional tour debut.

The 24-year-old ladies' world champion is the first woman to compete on the main circuit for 15 years.

The six-times world title-holder was given a wild card to the professional tour after winning her last 61 matches.

Evans, the first woman to take on the men since Alison Fisher, said ahead of her debut in Sheffield: "It's the biggest challenge of my career."

She added: "The standard will be really high. I'm going to try my best and just enjoy it - whatever happens it will be a steep learning curve for me.

"It's so hard to stay on the tour, but that's what I'm hoping for. I'm practising with a few different pro players to get as ready as I can.

"Being on the tour has given me the incentive to push myself as hard as I can."

Evans, from Dudley in the West Midlands, is not one to shirk a challenge, winning her 2006 world title while seven months pregnant with daughter Lauren, whose father is her former partner Mark Allen, the men's world number 10.

She also enjoyed a 4-3 win over John Higgins at last year's Six-Red World Championship in Ireland, sealing victory with a 50 break in the deciding frame.

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