REBECCA Kenna is making her World Snooker Championship debut next Tuesday, and with her shop closed and coaching not possible, she says her game is in better shape than ever.

She takes on young Brandon Sargeant in the first qualifying round, and will have to win four matches to become the first woman ever to make it into the main draw.

Discussing the opportunity, the Keighley potter said: “It’s my first time attempting to qualify.

“Generally they give a qualifying spot to the top two ranked women in the world, but Ng On-yee is number two and she’s stuck in Hong Kong, and Nutcharut Wongharuthai is third but she’s in Thailand.

“I’m number four, so I’m doing it alongside (number one) Reanne Evans.

“I’ve been getting some nice opportunities in the men’s game recently, but for qualifying, I just want to take it one match at a time and play well.

“My first and only objective is to win the match I’m playing.”

As for her first opponent Sargeant, who she will be taking on in a best of 11 frames clash, Kenna said: “I’ve not really seen anything of him before, even though we’ve been at a couple of pro-ams together.

“I have checked out his matches and scores, but I can’t go off any previous game with him.

“In the women’s game, we often only play best of three, and some are best of five or seven.

“We don’t tend to play that long (best of 11), but I’ve been playing that in practice since I knew I’d qualified, so I’m fine with that.”

Asked how preparations had been going, Kenna said: “Normally I’ve got my snooker shop and coaching, but it’s all shut down, so I’ve put in more hours than ever.

“Since the Snooker Shoot Out, I’ve been putting in about four hours every day, and my game’s in the best shape it’s ever been.”

The one-frame Shoot Out tournament in February saw Kenna unluckily knocked out after a shot clock violation in her opening match with Simon Lichtenberg.

She was unhappy at the time, but is more diplomatic a few weeks on.

She said: “It was just unfortunate what happened in the game with Simon.

“But this (World Snooker Championship qualifying) is more of a proper opportunity to show off my matchplay skills.

“It’s not televised but it will be on the Eurosport Player app.”

Kenna’s game with Sargeant was due to be next Monday, but has been switched to the day after to accommodate a certain clash.

That match being between two of the game’s greats, Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White.

Kenna laughed: “It was shocking that draw came out, and they’ve actually switched my match and their match around on the schedule.

“It could be to get more people signed up to the app, which could benefit me in terms of people watching the next day.”