Fallon Sherrock has been a trailblazer for women’s darts players, but the Queen of the Palace has a new competitor in 21-year-old youngster Beau Greaves
Fallon Sherrock has praised Beau Greaves and backed her to continue winning after her impressive run at the UK Open.
Greaves, 21, nearly made history at Minehead as she beat three male competitors on Friday, only to be stopped in her tracks by PDC world No.1 Luke Humphries. Despite leading 7-5 against the 2024 world champion, ‘Cool Hand’ showed why he is the best player in the world with a ruthless comeback to clinch the match 10-7.
Yet, Greaves proved she has the quality to compete in the men’s game in the same manner as Sherrock, who famously became the first woman to win at the men’s PDC World Championships in 2019. Greaves is the No.1 ranked female player on the circuit and, at the time of writing, 109th in the PDC Order of Merit.
However, Sherrock believes ‘Beau ‘n’ Arrow’ will soon be flying up the rankings, where she will be able to threaten the biggest stars again. Speaking with ITV Sport before Greaves’ clash with Humphries, Sherrock said: “We’ve been keeping an eye because we all know Beau’s potential, we all just want her to go and succeed. It’s so good for the women’s game and I’m like ‘come on Beau, keep going!’.”
When asked if Greaves’ ascent might ease the spotlight on her, Sherrock said: “100 per cent. I’ve been saying for ages I need someone like Beau to come through because Beau’s got the ability to play like these men do.
“I just think it’s nice to have the pressure off because everyone expected me to just go up and win every time, but it doesn’t work like that.
“To have someone like Beau coming through now, she’s doing it on the ladies’ tour, development tour and challenge tour, and hopefully now she can do it here [at the UK Open]. Imagine if she won it here, how good would that be for the women’s game.
“She just loves playing darts. She knows her ability and she comes here, she’s not scared of anyone. Why would she be?” they added, underscoring Greaves’ confidence and love for the sport.”
After their clash, Humphries admitted he was pushed to the limit by his female counterpart, which led to Greaves being met with thunderous applause from the audience. The two also shared a touching moment on stage, with a warm embrace that also saw Greaves hold Humphries’ hand up in triumph on the stage.
When he secured the victory, Humphries said: “I really enjoyed it, that’s what I said to her afterwards. I really, really enjoyed it. It was great fun, she was amazing. She played so great.
“I think she dropped off in the end, that’s what she said. But the long format she’s probably not used to playing. She’s a fantastic player there and she really had to bring the best of me.”
Looking back on the clash, Greaves said: “It’s a learning curve – I’m not used to the longer formats and my game dropped off towards the end, but it was an amazing experience. I’m used to watching these players all the time on telly and it was just great to be there on stage with him and to give a good account of myself.”
Humphries missed out on the chance to claim his maiden UK Open crown after losing to James Wade in the quarter-finals. Wade made it all the way through to the final, where he came unstuck against a certain Luke Littler, who triumphed 11-2 in a dominant display.
