Brilliant Beau is queen of the arrows
By Jethro Bremner-Allison.
“I’m happy as Larry me!” Beau Greaves declared as the 1st seed and uber talented 19-year- lifted the Women’s World Matchplay title on her debut in the event, losing just 4 legs along the way.
“The way I was playing, I didn’t think I would do it, but Mikuru didn’t play her best” Beau said afterwards, showing that despite her domination of the tournament and the women’s tour overall, she still has far higher aspirations.
“I need to get more comfortable on the stage to get my range” Beau admitted, but she will certainly have the opportunity now as not only does she pocket the £10,000 prize money, she also now has guaranteed spots in both the Grand Slam and the World Championships.
The final was one way traffic as she blitzed number 2 seed Mikuru Suzuki 6-1 in the final.
From dart 1 Greaves was far too good for Suzuki who’s form from earlier in the day completely deserted her and the pressure of a flurry of maximums and finishes from Beau proved too much for the Japanese dartist.
The first leg Mikuru miscounted on her finish and it looked to unsettle her as she was broken twice in quick succession, falling behind 5-0. She rallied to get a leg on the board, but Beau cleaned up a 74 in the 7th leg to claim a 6-1 win and the deserved title.
SEMI FINALS
Beau Greaves marched through to the final with a hard fought 5-3 win over Robyn Byrne.
Byrne, buoyed by her impressive win in R1, wasn’t discouraged when she was broken early, bouncing back right away. When Beau missed a 94 in leg 5, Byrne took a 3-2 lead much to the delight of her entourage and there was a few sensing a shock.
That seemed to be the catalyst for Greaves, she stung in a 25/D18 for a 14 darter to make it 3-3 and then pinned a fluent 101 for 4-3.
Her darts suddenly had become less passive as she moved through the gears and imposed her will on the impressive Byrne to see the job through 5-3.
“I struggled to get a good range and I’m relieved to get through” Beau admitted afterwards.
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Mikuru Suzuki deservedly made her way into the final with Beau Greaves, although this was a scrappy 5-3 win over Lisa Ashton.
Dropping a full 18 points on her R1 performance, Suzuki didn’t reach the heights she would like or expect but she dug in and showed she has many strings to her bow when it comes to getting over the line.
Ashton’s performance dropped too as this anticipated tie was dominated by nerves and riddled with errors.
Suzuki was helped by a cushion of getting into a 3-0 lead, including 2 breaks of throw which Ashton could never recover from. She missed 4 darts for 4-0 to give Ashton a sneak of a chance, but it didn’t materialise.
At 4-2 Lisa pinned a lovely tops, knowing that if she missed Mikuru would be throwing for the match. This was only a temporary sticking plaster as Suzuki came out in leg 8, hitting her first 180 of the match to give her some clear darts at double which she tidied up neatly.
QUARTER FINALS
The Queen of the Palace and defending champion Fallon Sherrock was dethroned by 4 times world champion Lisa Ashton 5-4 in a tense quarter final.
Both players had a major dose of doubling difficulties but it was Ashton who’s scoring initially looked stronger.
She couldn’t convert these chances though and Sherrock broke for 2-1. Undeterred, Ashton bounced straight back and headed into the lead as her doubles finally behaved.
Fallon landed a beautiful 94 to take us to a decider but her scoring and doubles looked far away from her best form.
Sat on 106 vs 107 in the final leg, Ashton fired in a 98 to leave her on D4 whilst Fallon couldn’t find a treble. The Lancashire Rose didn’t need two chances to progress to the semi finals.
“I’m happy with all the support” Lisa beamed “I’m just enjoying it today and I’ll see what happens. I’ll definitely need to improve versus Mikuru though”
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Mikuru Suzuki laid down a marker in a brilliant 4-2 win over Eileen De Graaf with the best performance ever seen in the Women’s World Matchplay.
Averaging 93 and 4/6 on her doubles, Suzuki was on top form as despite a strong display from De Graaf she was powerless to resist defeat.
Clinical Mikuru broke in the first leg and led all the way through the game, her scoring improving with each leg. It was notable how few darts drifted in the 5 or 1, her 20/T20 were arrow straight.
De Graaf on the other hand was finding plenty of success on the T19 segment. With De Graaf battling for 3-3, Suzuki pinned D18 with her first opportunity to snuff out any potential comeback.
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Meanwhile, Beau Greaves cruised through her quarter final vs Noa-Lynn Van Leuven 4-0 as she opened up the Women’s World Matchplay for 2023.
Whilst not needing to be at her fluent best, Beau made it 120 wins out of her last 125 matches on the women’s tour. Her domination is remarkable given her tender age.
In front of a huge Winter Garden crowd her average dipped below her season average, however with bigger challenges to come this afternoon she neatly wrapped up the match with plenty to spare.
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In game 2 captain of Ireland Robin Byrne took on captain of Wales Rhian O’Sullivan in what many thought could be the most hotly contested of the quarter finals.
It did not disappoint as Byrne overcame O’Sullivan 4-3 in the match of the round. Both players came out of the traps quickly, holding their own throw on 15 darts.
O’Sullivan who was chucking 140’s for fun (8 in 7 legs) looked to have taken the initiative with a sensational break in 12 to make it 3-2.
Images by Taylor Lanning.