Beau Greaves narrowly missed out on becoming the second woman ever to win a match at the World Darts Championship with a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Darryl Gurney at Alexandra Palace.
Greaves won the PDC Women’s Series, earned her PDC Tour card and defeated Luke Littler in the World Youth Championship semi-finals during a memorable season that saw the 21-year-old come close to a famous victory over the 22nd seed.
She won more legs, scored more 180s and posted a higher average than her opponent, and Greaves twice fought back from set down to take their first round encounter to a final set decider.
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Greaves won the second set against Gurney, taking an impressive 128.
Gurney regained momentum with an incredible 144 finish and wrapped up the victory in the next leg. She booked a second round fight with Callan Liz as ‘Super Chin’ and retained Fallon Sherlock, who reached the third round in 2020, as the only woman to win a match on stage at Alexandra Palace.
“She’s the best female darts player on the planet,” Gurney told Sky Sports. “If there’s ever a darts player who can win a world championship or a major tournament, it’s him.”
Borgreaves Defeat Statistics
Nathan Aspinall also fought back from a set down to beat Lawrence Ilagan 3-1 with an incredible 170 finish, while William O’Connor beat Poland’s Krzysztof Kuczuk in straight sets and Kean Barry defeated Tim Pusey by the same margin.
How Gurney defeated Greaves in the final set
In a nervy first set, Gurney held his throw with a 90 checkout and took advantage of an erroneous score by Greaves to break in the next set, before ‘Superchin’ wasted a set dart to allow his opponent to break back and win the deciding final leg.
Greaves narrowly lost to Gurney.
Greaves averaged more than 108 in the second set, finishing the 15-dart leg with a bullseye for 128 to make a break throw, followed by a 10-darter to win his third straight leg and tie the match.
In a whirlwind third set, Greaves broke after 13 darts, but missed one of the set’s darts to take the lead with a 102 finish. Gurney won the final leg and came close to winning the set, but the women’s number one fought back with a straight leg in the fourth set.
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Gurney achieved a 144 finish under great pressure
Greaves missed darts on each of the three legs of that set to take the win, but responded strongly in the final set, regaining momentum and breaking with a stunning 144 finish, overcoming a match dart mistake to take a nervy victory.
“Even from a man’s perspective, that woman has a fetish,” Gurney added. “What a darts player, honestly. Everyone said she was the favorite going into the match, but I showed my class and poise at times and got over the finish line.
Greaves was eliminated in the first round while Gurney moved on to face Callan Liz.
“The only thing that separated us was 144. When we were up 2-1 (in the final set), I thought, ‘Don’t thumb your nose at her.’ She missed a few doubles, but fair play to Beau. Everyone in this crowd should respect her, because she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with next year.”
O’Connor’s triumphant statement: We’re ready for Van Gerwen!
O’Connor defeated Kichuku in straight sets to set up a second-round showdown with Michael van Gerwen, and delivered an impressive performance, averaging 102.36 points, his highest in the tournament so far.
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William O’Connor appears with the song “Zombie”
The Irishman posted an impressive 167 checkout in the opening leg and survived Kichuku’s set dart at the bullseye in the decider of the final leg to take the lead in the first set. He then raced through the next two sets in back-to-back legs for a resounding victory.
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O’Connor won the first leg against Krzysztof Kuczuk thanks to a 167 checkout
“I feel like I can do more,” O’Connor, who posted seven 180s, told Sky Sports. “I’m very happy with my doubles performance, but I know my score could have been a little better, but at the same time I’m very happy with my performance.
“The next match is going to be very, very difficult and I know I have to play at least like that, if not more. You can’t have such loose darts. Whoever you play at this stage, it’s one of the best players in the world. So bring it. I’m ready for them!”
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O’Connor can’t wait for second round fight with Michael van Gerwen after comfortably defeating Kichuk
Aspinall fell one set behind against Ilagan and was on the verge of a shock exit. The infamous Ally Parry Wasp made multiple appearances in this match, with the Filipino player breaking Ilagan again in the third set and falling behind.
‘The Asp’ quickly broke back with an 84 finish, took the set in the deciding leg, and held off two sets of darts in the fourth set before wrapping up the win with a ‘Big Fish’ finish.
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Incredible 170 checkout earns Nathan Aspinall victory in hard-fought first round against Lawrence Ilagan
Barry ran through the final match of the night, dropping just three legs against Pusey, securing a match against Martin Schindler in the second round.
Rock ‘underestimates’ haters amid tough win
Josh Lock overcame a late fightback from Gemma Hayter to win 3-1 and qualify for the second round of the afternoon session.
Lock raced into the match with a two-set advantage, but Hayter fought back to win the third set and the British woman forced a fourth set into a deciding final leg before the world No. 11 cruised to a shutout victory.
Josh Locke tested by Gemma Hayter during first round win
“I was definitely nervous,” said Locke, who plays Joe Comito. “I took the pedal off a little bit. Maybe I underestimated her. It’s not me being rude, it’s just me thinking that way. I’m stupid for thinking that! I’m going to kick myself in the ass because I can’t do that again.”
Ryan Meikle defeated Argentina’s Jesus Zarate in straight sets, Kevin Dauts defeated Matthew Dennant 3-1 and Leonard Gates defeated Mickey Mansell in a close final set.
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Mickey Mansell and Leonard Gates struggled to finish the leg, and in the end 66 darts were thrown.
Round 2 begins on Saturday
Saturday afternoon’s session will see Ryan Searle face Brendan Dolan, Andreas Harrison take on Motomu Sakai, Dirk van Duijvenbode take on James Harrell and Dave Chisnall take on Ricardo Pitrecko.
Former world champion Michael Smith begins the evening session with Niels Sonnefeld, Chris Dobie takes on Andrew Gilding and Stephen Bunting takes on Nitin Kumar.
Johnny Clayton was due to play Dom Taylor in the final match of the day, but Taylor was suspended by the Darts Regulation Authority after failing a drug test, meaning the Welshman would advance to the third round on a bye.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live and exclusively on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407) until Saturday 3rd January. Stream darts and other top sports now.
