PATON BACKS GREAVES FOR MULTIPLE FINALS

EMMA PATON believes Beau Greaves will reach multiple finals on the PDC circuit this year.

The Sky Sports presenter reckons plenty of players will already “fear” Greaves after she hoovered up titles on the Development Tour and secured a Tour Card for this campaign.

Women’s world No.1 Greaves produced superb numbers at the Grand Slam, averaging over 100 in her group matches, but suffered narrow 5–4 defeats to Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson. 

Paton believes Greaves is mentally ready for the biggest stages and says rivals are already wary of her talents. 

She told the Weekly Dartscast: “I feel like everyone is just super excited. If you love darts, you’ll just be so intrigued as well to see what she can do. 

“I think so many of the players are just fearful after what she achieved last year. The fact that she won a Tour Card and picked up titles on the Challenge Tour and Development Tour as well. 

“Especially with the Players Championship events getting underway next week, I think everyone is just really excited to see what she can deliver against the very best players in the world. They’ll all be really fearful. 

“I think there’ll be so many times throughout the year where everyone’s saying, right, get on PDC TV because she’s in a final here. 

“So yeah, I think everyone’s got really high hopes and big ambitions for her this season. I think now she’s got to a point where she’ll be relishing it as well and just really excited.  

“I know a couple of years ago — especially when she was opting to play with the WDF and not playing on the PDC World Champs stage — she maybe didn’t feel like she was ready. 

“But wow, it’s like you put her on a big stage now and she’s just so… It’s just that we need some of the results to go her way, basically.” 

‘Beau ‘n’ Arrow’ was knocked out of the first round of the World Championship after falling 3-2 to Daryl Gurney. 

Greaves averaged higher and boasted a superior checkout percentage but was sunk by one killer moment as Gurney nailed a huge 144 outshot in the deciding leg. 

Paton felt Greaves was unfortunate to exit at the first hurdle despite producing the better numbers on the night. 

She added: “I think everyone was so excited to see her back on the PDC World Championship stage as well.  

“It kind of came down to just that one moment, that huge outshot from Daryl Gurney in the end, because Beau did herself justice in that game.

“It just felt like she was pretty much on the wrong end of the score. The fact that she, I think she had won one more leg.  

“Her stats were pretty much better in every department. It was just one of those games.” 

Greaves returns to action on Monday at the Players Championship One in Hildesheim.

Image by Taylor Lanning.