Darts results: Fallon Sherrock beats Mensur Suljovic to reach the Grand Slam of Darts quarter-finals

The 27-year-old, who hit a magical 170 checkout against Gabriel Clemens on Tuesday night to become the first woman to reach the knockout stages, punished the below-par Austrian with a crushing 10-5 victory.

Sherrock was the underdog just like she was when stunning Suljovic in their unforgettable showdown at the Alexandra Palace in 2019 but once again made a mockery of the odds to further launch her career to new heights.

The Queen of the Palace initially got off to a slow start when falling 2-0 down but immediately bounced back when a 100 checkout completed an 11-darter before another fine finish from 124 sealed a 12-darter to restore parity.

As Suljovic's levels plummeted under the pressure, Sherrock took full advantage as she moved into a 6-3 lead despite not playing to her own best and it wasn't too much longer before the Wolverhampton crowd were singing her name once more.

The Austrian, who headed into the match off the back of a 104 average in his final group game, averaged in the low 80s and just couldn't find his rhythm that has helped him become one of the most dangerous players in the world.

Sherrock, who recently reached the televised Nordic Darts Masters final after a stunning comeback against Dimitri Van den Bergh only to lose marginally to Michael van Gerwen, only needed an average of 90.58 which was over 10 points lower than when she set the highest TV average for a woman (101.55) during her 5-0 win over Mike de Dekker.

She will now meet Peter Wright, who beat her 5-1 in the group stages, as he just about kept alive his hopes of winning the Grand Slam of Darts title for the first time in his career with a 10-9 victory over defending champion Jose de Sousa.

In a hard-fought match where neither player was ever more than two legs in front, Snakebite had plenty of opportunities to prevent a nerve-jangling finish in the 18th leg but spurned five match darts.

However he got his act together in the decider to book his place in the quarter-finals.

"It was a struggle tonight," Wright admitted. "I will have to make huge improvements if I'm going to have a chance of winning this title.

"I only received these darts at 11am this morning. I had a practice with Fallon's darts so I asked for the same shaped dart to be sent to me.

"It's the best dart I've ever thrown, even though my average tonight doesn't reflect that.

"If I'd produced my practice game, I would've won easily but I knew that wasn't going to happen tonight."

Michael van Gerwen ended Gary Anderson's hopes of winning the Grand Slam for the first time with a high-quality 10-8 victory.

The three-time champion averaged 100.43 compared to his opponent's 100.68 and fired in eight of the 14 maximums in the match, but his finishing proved to be the difference as he pinned 10 of his 25 attempts as Anderson' spurned 15 of his 23.

Anderson had moved into a 4-3 lead - with the help of a fine 124 checkout - only for MVG to level matters with a brilliant finish from 116 before taking the next two legs for an 6-4 advantage.

The Flying Scotsman never fell further than two legs behind but had to survive four match darts in the 17th leg to stay alive.

However, his reprieve was short-lived as he spurned an attempt at tops to force a decider and MVG punished him to wrap up a 10-8 victory.

Earlier, Michael Smith almost completed his 10-5 victory over Joe Cullen with a spectacular nine-dart finish.

Bully Boy missed double 12 in what turned out to be the last leg of the match, before returning a visit later to seal his passage into the quarter-finals for the third year in a row.

There was no shortage of 180s in the match as both players managed six apiece but Cullen was made to pay for a host of missed doubles, especially after he fell 4-3 down and allowed his opponent to run away with it.

Smith only hit 10 of his 35 attempts at doubles as he averaged 95 while Cullen spurned 19 of his 24 attempts, which brought his average down to 92.

'Every dart felt like it was going in [on the nine-darter], it was a shame I couldn't hit it for the fans," said Smith. "But hitting the nine isn't as important as winning the match. I've got so much respect for Joe, I think there was too much respect between us which is why the game never took off

"I got lucky all the way through that match, Joe just kept letting me in. If he's going to let me in, I'm going to take my chances."

Grand Slam of Darts: Thursday results and weekend schedule

Thursday November 18 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of 19 legs)

• Michael Smith 10-5 Joe Cullen
• Peter Wright 10-9 Jose De Sousa
• Mensur Suljovic 5-10 Fallon Sherrock
• Michael van Gerwen 10-8 Gary Anderson

Friday November 19
Evening Session (1pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Quarter-finals (Best of 31 legs)

• Gerwyn Price v Jonny Clayton
• James Wade v Rob Cross

Saturday November 20
Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Quarter-finals (Best of 31 legs)

• Peter Wright v Fallon Sherrock
• Michael Van Gerwen v Michael Smith

Sunday November 21
Afternoon Session (1pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Semi-finals (Best of 31 legs)

• Two Matches

Evening Session (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Final (Best of 31 legs)

• Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

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