Seattle will play host to the opening event of the 2023-24 World Women's Snooker (WWS) Tour season, as the 2023 WineCellars.com U.S. Women's Snooker Open commences today August 11 at OX Billiards until August 13.

The inaugural U.S. Women's Snooker Open was held last year with England's Jamie Hunter winning her first WWS Tour title, with this year's event returning with the title sponsorship of WineCellars.com, which is a leading designer, manufacturer, and distributor of custom wine cellars in North America.

This year's Championship has attracted four of the world's top five players ranked players on the WWS Tour, which includes former World Champions Ng On Yee of Hong Kong and Thailand's Mink Nutcharut competing in the United States for the first time.

The format for this year's Championship will see the players divided into four Groups contesting the round robin group stage, which will then be followed by the knockout rounds from the quarterfinals onwards.

As defending champion, Hunter will head Group A and the 26-year-old will be joined by the United States players Kathleen Stanley and Marian Poole, and China's Jing Liu.

Rebecca Kenna is the top player in Group B and will be hoping to go one better this year after losing 4-1 to her English compatriot Hunter in last year's final. Kenna will match up against Germany's Diana Schuler, Canada's Maryann McConnell, and the United States' Kaarin Lysen.

Three-time World Champion Ng starts her campaign in Group C, alongside her compatriot Jaique Ip Wan In, who is a previous ranking event winner on the WWS Tour, and two home players from the United States, Mary Avina and Frances Tso.

The 2022 World Champion Nutcharut can retake the world number one ranking if she should prevail in Seattle, and she will do battle in Group D against Scotland's Louise Foster and Americans Jaime Miller and Marissa Du.

The Championship gets underway at 11am local Pacific Time, and you can follow the match results and standings via WPBSA SnookerScores.