The 2024 Betfred Girls’s Match Play will get underway on Sunday, with Beau Greaves aiming to retain her title on an excellent afternoon at Blackpool Winter Gardens.
The third occasion of the £25,000 occasion will probably be held on the Empress Ballroom and broadcast stay Sky Sports activities.
The eight contestants are made up of gamers from the 12-month PDC Girls’s Collection Benefit Awards, with 4 former Lakeside Girls’s Champions collaborating within the knockout rounds.
Prime seed Greaves beat Mikuru Suzuki on her Girls’s Match Play debut 12 months in the past and the Doncaster darts will start her title rivalry with Eire’s Katie Sheldon.
Greaves is essentially the most profitable participant within the historical past of the PDC Girls’s Collection, successful a staggering 23 titles over the previous two years, together with a hat-trick in 2024.
The 20-year-old additionally grew to become the primary girl to win a Growth Tour title final month, with a string of performances underlining her standing as one of many sport’s most fun skills.
“I actually loved final 12 months and I am wanting ahead to getting again on that stage,” stated Greaves, who’s eyeing one other piece of Winter Backyard historical past.
“Successful the title on my debut was a really particular second, particularly with my household there and I believe it took some strain off me this 12 months.
“I believe I ought to have gained extra Girls’s Collection titles this 12 months, however successful on the Growth Tour was an enormous second.
“I am very pleased with myself as a result of it is not straightforward to win these titles, so to win one so early in my profession is a big achievement and one to recollect.
“It ought to be a enjoyable day. It is an incredible lineup and hopefully we will all present what we will do.”
Fallon Sherrock wins the inaugural 2022 match, with the Milton Keynes trailblazer taking up three-time Lakeside ladies’s champion Anastasia Dobromyslo Child (Anastasia Dobromyslova).
Sherlock returns to the Winter Backyard because the No. 2 seed, having gained 4 straight titles late in 2023 earlier than successful two of the 12 months’s first 4 matches to remain in compelling type.
“I really feel such as you all the time have to enter each match with confidence,” stated Sherlock, who’s wanting ahead to a troublesome check with debutant Dobromyslova, her first TV look in additional than 5 years. superior.
“I believe I am in actually good condition. I’ve had some issues over the previous few months however they’re behind me now.
“I consider the remainder of the 12 months will go very properly, so why not begin by successful the championship this weekend?
“I do know Anastasia hasn’t performed a lot on the massive stage currently, however she has a whole lot of expertise, so you possibly can by no means underestimate her.
“Ana nonetheless has her recreation. I am anticipating one of the best from her and I hope I can reply, but it surely ought to be a really thrilling recreation.”
Third seed Lisa Ashton, certainly one of two gamers becoming a member of Sherlock within the Girls’s Match Play Championship, may also headline this 12 months’s occasion, the place she’s going to compete with Ryan O’Sullivan Rhian O’Sullivan for a spot within the semi-finals.
Ashton arrives on the Queen’s Ballroom in one of the best type of the ladies’s recreation after successful back-to-back Girls’s Collection titles in Video games 11 and 12 final month.
“I’ve all the time had nice assist at Blackpool and it means so much to have the gang in your aspect,” stated the Bolton-born veteran.
“The Winter Backyard is a historic, iconic stage; the environment is nice and hopefully I can carry out in addition to I can.
“I’ve put an excessive amount of strain on myself right here up to now few years, so this 12 months I am simply going to get pleasure from it and take it one recreation at a time.
“These younger guys are completely ruthless however I’ll proceed to do my finest and hopefully I can add this recreation to my resume quickly!”
The semi-finals and last will happen later within the afternoon, with the winner qualifying for the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts and the 2024/25 Paddy Energy World Darts Championship.
2024 Betfred Girls’s World Match Play
Sunday, July 21
(1) Beau Greaves vs (8) Katie Shelton
(4) Mikuru Suzuki vs (5) Noah-Lynn van Leuven
(2) Fallon Sherlock vs (7) Anastasia Dobromyslova
(3) Lisa Ashton VS (6) Ryan O’Sullivan
Format
Quarterfinals – Better of seven rounds
Semifinals – Better of 9 rounds
Ultimate – Better of 11 rounds
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