Beau Greaves does the double in PDC Women’s Series
Beau Greaves formulated final wins over rivals Fallon Sherrock and Noa-Lynn van Leuven to accomplish the double in the PDC Women’s Series at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan.
The 20-year-old’s long list of accolades gets two further additions as she went on a 12-game win streak over the course of the day, appearing in fine form ahead of this year’s Grand Slam appearance.
Women’s Series Event 17
Greaves added another Women’s Series title to her darting CV in the day’s first event, with the Doncaster-born star elevating her game at the most critical moments in one of her matches.
Her opening match with Laura van der Berg was a convincing 4-1 victory. It took her a leg to get into her usual flowing self, with Van der Berg posting in a 26-darter to break the throw at the start. But Greaves responded with a 15, 19, 11 and 16 darter to swiftly move through, not allowing her opponent another visit on the outer ring.
Desiree Geel was Greaves’s next matchup, and the game was over after only eight minutes. Despite averaging only 82.36, the two-time Women’s Matchplay champion was not challenged en route against the Dutchwoman, who averaged 66.43 herself.
After another convincing 4-1 win in the last 16 against Eve Watson, her toughest test arrived against Finnish star Kirsi Viinikainen in the quarter-finals. Greaves got off to the best possible start and cemented a 3-0 and 4-1 lead, but allowed the Finnish star back in and reeled off two 17 and a 20 dart leg to force a last leg decider. Greaves survived match darts and progressed through with a 23 dart leg.
This narrow escape motivated the two-time World Champion in her semi-final game with Aileen de Graaf, averaging her highest of the event with a final average of 91.53 in a convincing 5-1 thrashing. Three 16 darters, one 18 darter and one 17 darter saw her progress through with another final matchup with Fallon Sherrock.
Greaves established a 2-0 lead over her rival, with Sherrock producing the goods to level up the affair at 2-2. Important doubles arrived and went in the next two legs for Sherrock, with Greaves punishing and assembling a lead once more. Greaves crowned herself the Event 17 champion with a 21-darter.
Women’s Series Event 18
Greaves continued her fine form straight into the second event of the day, where complete dominance ensued as she went through a spell of eight unanswered legs over her Irish challengers in the first two matches.
Brieg Ramsey and Aoife McCormack averaged 43.21 and 68.90 respectively, which was no match to Greaves’ performance with both games combined finished in under 15 minutes.
‘Beau and Arrow’ faced a tough test against ten time World Champion Trina Gulliver. Gulliver conducted two 14 darters herself in a close affair, but the 20-year-old talent maintained strong consistency on the outer ring to progress through.
In the quarter-final she faced an out of sorts Rhian O’Sullivan, who averaged a below par 63.37 in their match. Greaves averaged 92.78 herself to progress through with a whitewash wkin, before she made it in back-to-back finals by defeating Denise Cassidy 5-2.
Greaves overcame missed match darts from Van Leuven in the final to win a last leg decider, with the Dutchwoman leading 3-0 at one point. Van Leuven hit a 16, 18 and 15 dart legs to establish a clear advantage, before Greaves won the next two to reduce the deficit.
Van Leuven responded with a 22 darter to go one away from victory and start of her own throw, but after missing match darts before Greaves showed her class by hitting the all important double with her last dart in hand.
Despite her strong performances during the day, the final provided obvious tension as Greaves rounded off the final two legs with 21 and 18 darters to collect the full prize winnings from one days work.