Darts results: No fairytale for Beau Greaves despite a fine performance against Willie O'Connor at the World Championship

By Sporting Life

00:28 · SAT December 17, 2022

Beau Greaves was unable to mark her history-making World Darts Championship debut with a win as she bowed out against Willie O'Connor at the Alexandra Palace.

The 18-year-old became the youngest woman ever to play on the Ally Pally stage but showed few signs of nerves during the early exchanges as she won the opening leg with a 120 checkout and although O'Connor promptly bounced back to take the next two, Greaves edged a scrappy fourth to force a decider.

SHANGHAI FOR BEAU! 🤩

JUST LOOK AT THAT!

A sensational start from 18-year-old Beau Greaves who takes out a huge 120 finish in the opening leg!#WCDarts | R1
📺 https://t.co/37DNuuK5Me pic.twitter.com/4iJL7fQNCD
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 16, 2022

Greaves spurned an attempt at double 16 to complete a 105 checkout and O'Connor just about made her pay with his last dart in hand on double five to move one set up.

The Doncaster ace, who won 52 matches and eight tournaments in a row during the Women's Series to earn her spot at the World Championship, responded brilliantly with a fine 122 finish at the start of the second set before swiftly doubling her lead.

👏 Beau Greaves got the crowd on their feet during a fine World Championship debut.

👍 The 18-year-old may have lost to a very relieved Willie O'Connor, but she'll be back.pic.twitter.com/TzbBezcUEx
— Sporting Life 🎯🔴🎾⛳️🥊🏏🏉 🏈 (@SportingLifeFC) December 16, 2022

Greaves agonisingly missed the bullseye for what would have been a dazzling set-winning 161 checkout as O'Connor pinned double 12 to pull one back before cruising through the next to level matters.

The WDF women's world champion, who recently won the World Masters, was unable to earn a shot at a double with 101 remaining in the decider and O'Connor punished her to open up a 2-0 set lead.

That seemed to knock the stuffing out of her as the Irishman breezed through the third set 3-0 but there's no doubt Greaves will go from strength to strength in future years.

She averaged 88.34 compared to O'Connor's 94.26 and managed two of the five 180s but ultimately her doubling cost her, missing 11 of her 14 attempts.

WATCH: Paul Nicholson and Chris Hammer predict the Ally Pally draw!

Predicting the PDC World Darts Championship with Paul Nicholson!

“I’m happy to get the win,” reflected O’Connor, set up a second round clash against Germany’s number one Gabriel Clemens.

“Beau played absolutely brilliantly. She has got a huge future ahead of her, and hopefully this is the last time I play her for a long time!”

Michael Smith began his campaign an ultimate whitewash win over Northern Ireland’s Nathan Rafferty.

The fourth seed, who recently won his maiden major at the Grand Slam of Darts, reeled off nine successive legs with no replay to secure his place in round three with a 96 average, three 180s and finishes of 114 and 130.

"Nathan struggled up there and I had to take advantage of that," said the two-time World Championship runner-up. I'm playing well and I think everyone knows if I continue to play well, it's going to take someone special to beat me."

Elsewhere, an emotional Lourence Ilagan edged out a spirited Rowby-John Rodriguez in a dramatic deciding-leg tussle to secure his first victory on the Alexandra Palace stage since 2013.

Ilagan made a terrific start to proceedings, converting clinical 88, 64, 66 and 116 combination finishes to establish a two-set lead and move to the brink of a place in round two for the first time in his career.

Rodriguez came roaring back, reeling off seven consecutive legs to seize the initiative, but he paid the price for spurning four darts for a 2-0 lead in set five, as Ilagan regained his poise in the latter stages to progress.

Florian Hempel also produced a fine comeback to defeat former World Youth Champion Keegan Brown in the second deciding-leg encounter of the evening to create a meeting with fifth seed Luke Humphries.

Hempel - who defeated Dimitri Van den Bergh en route to reaching round three on debut 12 months ago – landed seven 180s as he recovered from 2-1 adrift to send Brown to Qualifying School in 2023.

AFTERNOON SESSION

All four of the afternoon games were one-sided affairs, with Adrian Lewis opening his campaign with a dominant 3-0 victory over Sweden’s number one Daniel Larsson.

The two-time champion, who is making his 18th consecutive World Championship appearance, fired in six perfect darts midway through set two to threaten what would have been his third nine-darter in the sport’s showpiece event.

Lewis conceded just three legs en route to victory, averaging over 93 to move through to an intriguing second round clash against World Cup winner Damon Heta on December 18.

Jackpot said: “The first round is always tough. I have been practising really well, but I didn’t know what to expect today. I feel comfortable up here. There is something magical about this place. I love it and I am up for the fight, trust me.”

LEWIS BREEZES THROUGH! 🎰

It's the perfect start for Adrian Lewis who only drops three legs on his way to a straight sets success over Daniel Larsson!

Up next 👉 Kim Huybrechts v Grant Sampson#WCDarts | R1
📺 https://t.co/37DNuuK5Me pic.twitter.com/YxwTrCTTuh
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 16, 2022

Kim Huybrechts reeled off nine straight legs in his demolition of South African debutant Grant Sampson, setting up a third-round tie against defending champion Peter Wright after Christmas.

Sampson, who stunned UK Open semi-finalist Keane Barry on Thursday's opening night, got a leg on the board early on but that didn't stop the Belgian storming to victory, taking out a superb 154 checkout in the penultimate leg.

Huybrechts said: "I was expecting a better Grant today because he was very nervous yesterday, but it just didn't happen.

"That influenced my game as well which it shouldn't, but I put the big players under pressure, and that's exactly what I'm going to do in the next game against Peter. It's going to be good."

154 FINISH!

In what is a subdued Kim Huybrechts performance, that is an absolutely explosive checkout as he moves to within a leg of the match!#WCDarts | R2
📺 https://t.co/37DNuuK5Me pic.twitter.com/S4wULQhhW9
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 16, 2022

Alan Soutar will face Daryl Gurney in a second-round tie on Saturday after an emphatic 3-0 victory over Mal Cuming.

Soutar – who reached the last 16 on debut last year – landed four 180s and converted 124 and 119 finishes to dispatch the Australian, who struggled with nerves on his Alexandra Palace bow.

“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Soutar, who kicked off the contest with five perfect darts and wrapped up victory with a 12-dart break.

“I know I can play darts, but I need to turn up and play 100% better against Daryl, but I’ll take the win and we move on to Saturday.”

Boris Krcmar also progressed in comprehensive style, seeing off Japanese qualifier Toru Suzuki in straight sets to secure his first win on the World Championship stage.

The Croatian punished Suzuki’s profligacy to race into a two-set lead, before defying a late rally from the Japanese star to book a showdown with two-time semi-finalist Nathan Aspinall in round two.