The quarter-final stage of the Women’s World Matchplay delivered exactly the kind of drama the Winter Gardens has come to expect, with top seed Beau Greaves cruising through, Gemma Hayter surviving a last-leg thriller, and both Lisa Ashton and Fallon Sherrock setting up a mouth-watering rematch of last year’s final.
Beau Greaves wasted no time reminding the field why she arrived in Blackpool as favourite. She opened with a brilliant 148 checkout for a 15-darter, then followed it up immediately with an equally stunning 144 to break throw in the second leg.
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To her credit, Viinikainen didn’t fold. She composed herself to hit a pop-pop 80 finish in a 14-darter to get on the board at 3-1.
But it was merely delaying the inevitable, as Greaves capped things off in style, producing her first maximum of the contest in the final leg to close out a 5-1 win on her fifth match dart.
Gemma Hayter, a Dartsworld Ambassador, survived a scare against Vicky Pruim in their first round match, which on paper looked to be the closest tie of the round, and it looked every bit as tight in practice.
Both players started sluggishly, with Pruim edging the opener before Hayter, fresh off being crowned Women’s World Masters Champion, hit back in kind. The Swede then found her range, reeling off a couple of legs on the back of some loose Hayter arrows to move two away from the semi-finals.
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Hayter, though, refused to be shaken. A stunning 107 checkout dragged her back into contention, and from there she looked a different player, growing more comfortable leg by leg until she closed it out in a last-leg decider to book her spot in the semi-finals, setting up a matchup with Greaves.
Reigning and defending champion Lisa Ashton got her afternoon off to the perfect start against a determined Rhian O’Sullivan, chasing her first win on the Winter Gardens stage.
Ashton set the tone immediately, a 14-darter on her own throw backed up by a 15-dart break, but O’Sullivan hit back with two legs on the spin to level things at 2-2.
From there, though, the pace of the match belonged to the champion. Ashton snapped the tie back open with a clinical 120 checkout to move 4-2 clear, eventually getting the job done on her ninth match dart for a 5-2 win, and a semi-final rematch against Fallon Sherrock awaits.
The most-one sided contest of the round came in the final first round match, where last year’s beaten finalist Fallon Sherrock made light work of reigning Lakeside World Champion Deta Hedman, herself making her Matchplay debut.
Sherrock doubled her lead with an early break of throw, and in the blink of an eye a couple of ruthless 13-darters stretched the gap to four. She duly closed out for a comprehensive 5-0 win, and in doing-so, not affording Hedman a dart at double in the contest.
Sherrock will be hoping she can avenge her defeat in last year’s showpiece match, where she missed a flurry of darts to take the title against Ashton
Betfred Women’s World Matchplay Darts 2026
Quarter-finals
Beau Greaves 5-1 Kirsi Viinikainen
Gemma Hayter 5-4 Vicky Pruim
Lisa Ashton 5-2 Rhian O’Sullivan
Fallon Sherrock 5-0 Deta Hedman
Semi-finals (X2)
Beau Greaves vs Gemma Hayter
Lisa Ashton vs Fallon Sherrock
Images:
PDC / Taylor Lanning
