Day 8 of the WDF World Championships saw the lady’s competition Semi-Finals take place in Surrey. Kirsty Hutchinson the 6th Seed beat Rhian O’Sullivan 3-2 to reach her first final on her Lakeside debut, whilst Beau Greaves stormed passed Lorraine Winstanley who only won two legs in the entire Semi-Final on the oche.
After the game Kirsty said: “Its actually not believable, I went into today thinking I’m not going to win this, but it was the most comfortable I’ve felt all week, and I think the pressure was off me and maybe on Rhian because she’s a bigger player and has been playing a lot longer than I have”
Beau Greaves’s previous best was reaching the Semi-Finals two years ago, but is now also through to her first final at just 18 years of age: “I can’t believe it, to be honest, I never thought I would get to this stage, and I feel so proud of myself and am very excited for tomorrow now”
6th Seed Hutchinson faced Rhian O’Sullivan in the final match of the afternoon and showed no sign of any nerves, hitting double tops to finish 78 on her last dart to take a 2-1 lead in the first set.
The doubling in the first set was spectacular from Hutchinson only missing one dart at double which was on the bullseye. She hit tops once more to take the first set of the match on throw with her first dart again.
“To be fair, it is what it is on the day, I can put as much time as I want into my finishing, and it still doesn’t happen. If it does happen when I go on that stage, its like wow and if I don’t, I will lose the game, it’s as simple as that”
Hutchinson punished many missed darts from her Welsh opponent, hitting double ten after O’Sullivan had missed two darts at double to win the second set.
She went on to take a 2-0 lead hitting double five at her sixth attempt and left the Lakeside stage knowing one set would see her into the final.
It wasn’t as easy as that though, as O’Sullivan came roaring back to take the third set including a 180 followed by double tops allowing her to hold throw and level the third set at 1-1.
The Welsh Qualifier then got the all-important break of throw to take a 2-1 lead hitting double four after Hutchinson had missed three darts at double to hold. She went on to take the third set hitting double five with her first dart as she halved the deficit in the Semi-Final.
O’Sullivan continued with her spirited comeback including a 75 out on double tops to take a 2-1 lead in set three, before levelling the match which saw the Semi-Final enter a fifth and deciding set.
Hutchinson hit her first maximum of the tournament in the fourth leg of the fifth set, but O’Sullivan finished 60 on double ten in two darts to send the match into a last-leg decider. Both had match darts, but it was Hutchinson who prevailed hitting double ten at her first time of asking to win 3-2. O’Sullivan missed a dart at tops herself in what was an agonising miss for the two-time finalist from Wales.
“When she was going for that winning double, I couldn’t look because I thought it was going in, she hit most of her doubles the first time, and I thought I’ve just screwed this from two sets up, I’m going to lose”
“When she missed, I just thought to myself don’t even think about it and just throw. I’m very happy it went in the first dart because if it didn’t go in the first dart it wouldn’t have gone in at all.”
Beau Greaves raced into the lead in the opening set winning it without reply including an 86 out on double eight with her last dart to win the first leg of the match. The 5th Seed also won the second set in the same manner, hitting double four to make it six legs won out of six on the oche.
“Once I get onto the stage, I come to life, and I start to feel I can win this and win that. But I’m not for winning anymore, I’m more for enjoying my darts and I think that’s where your results will come if you enjoy yourself, because you don’t know what can happen. I enjoyed myself more tonight than any other game and I’m just so happy”
8th Seed Winstanley won her first leg of the match in the third leg, after hitting tops on her first dart. But it was Greaves’ Day on the oche firstly hitting 110 out on double sixteen to level the set at 2-2 before hitting the same target in the next leg to reach the final for the first time.
Beau Greaves has really shown her quality throughout the tournament on combination outshot with her last dart at double and said “I’m not practising that stuff, if it happens it happens if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I think sometimes it doesn’t matter how well you’re playing or how bad you think your playing, when you get on that stage it’s completely different and I’m handling it well which is why I’m getting through.”
The Lady’s competition will have a new name on the trophy, with Kirsty Hutchinson taking on Beau Greaves for the chance to be champion of the world for the very first time.
WDF World Championship Women: Semi-Finals
Kirsty Hutchinson (6) 3-2 Rhian O’Sullivan
Beau Greaves (5) 3-0 Lorraine Winstanley (8)
WDF World Championship Women: Final
Beau Greaves (5) v Kirsty Hutchinson (6)
—–ENDS—–
Words and Image: Harry Masterson
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