Sherrock and Greaves to Contest Women's World Matchplay Final

The Women’s World Matchplay final has been set, after the Winter Gardens played host to two contrasting semi-finals, as Beau Greaves fought back from the brink to edge past a determined Gemma Hayter, while Fallon Sherrock swept aside the defending champion Lisa Ashton.

Beau Greaves needed every bit of her big-match experience to see off Hayter 5-4 in a semi-final that swung back and forth until the very last leg.

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It was Hayter who made the brighter start, capitalising on a slow opening from Greaves to move ahead early. The advantage was short-lived though. Greaves responded in the third leg with back-to-back maximums that had the Winter Gardens crowd daring to dream of a nine-darter. The perfect leg never arrived, but ‘Beau and Arrow’ didn’t need it, closing out the leg regardless to edge back in front at 2-1.

True to her tenacious reputation, Hayter refused to let the door shut, leveling the match at 2-2 in a leg that was thoroughly deserved.

The tussle continued to ebb and flow from there, as Hayter nudged 3-2 ahead, only for Greaves to summon the scoring power that has defined her career to move 4-3 up and within a leg of the final.

Even then, it wasn’t over. Greaves missed a dart for the match, and Hayter pounced, breaking the throw to level at 4-4 and give herself a shot at completing the turnaround. But Greaves dug in one final time, holding her nerve to close it out with a 104 checkout in a last-leg decider, booking her place in a third World Matchplay final.

If the first semi-final was tight and tense, the second-semi final was a walk in the park. Sherrock raced into an early two-leg lead, a 16-dart opener followed by a 14-darter, and by the time she moved 3-0 up she had reeled off eight legs in a row without reply across the afternoon’s action.

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At that stage it looked as though the tie might be over as quickly as it had started. Ashton did find a way back into it, taking the fourth leg to reduce the arrears to 3-1, but Sherrock allowed her no further breathing room.

‘The Queen of the Palace immediately broke the throw to move one leg from victory. From there, she wrapped up the win in clinical fashion, ending Ashton’s title defence in a contest the champion never really found her level in.

The result: a final between two former Matchplay winners, with Greaves and Sherrock set to battle it out for the title.

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