Beau Greaves has etched her name into the darts history books by becoming the first woman to win a match on the European Tour. The 22-year-old from Doncaster defeated Daryl Gurney 6-4 in the Czech Open in Prague, just a week after narrowly losing 6-5 to Rob Cross on her European Tour debut in Hungary.
Gurney, who had beaten Greaves in a deciding set at the PDC World Championship in December, stormed into a 3-1 lead. But Greaves responded in spectacular fashion, reeling off three straight legs with finishes of 14, 11, and 13 darts to move 4-3 ahead. Gurney levelled at 4-4, but Greaves held her nerve to seal a historic victory — the first by a female player in the European Tour's 15-year history.
"It feels amazing," said Greaves, who now faces world number two Luke Humphries in Saturday's second round. "It's just so nice to win a game, I was so nervous at the start, I don't know why. It took me so long to get settled, but luckily I did enough to win the game. It means loads to me, the crowd's fantastic. It's such a tight stage and you feel so much from the crowd. I'm really enjoying it and loving the experience."
This latest milestone adds to a remarkable list of achievements for Greaves, who became the first woman to win a PDC ranking title when she beat Michael Smith in April, and the first woman to hit a nine-dart finish on the PDC ProTour, achieving the feat against Mensur Suljovic in February. She also claimed her third Women's World Matchplay title in July, defeating Fallon Sherrock.
Looking ahead to her clash with Humphries, Greaves said: "I've played Luke on the big stage before so I know what to expect, he's world class so I'm going to have to play a lot better than I did tonight. What more do you want than on a Euro Tour to play one of the best players in the world? I'll look forward to it and I'll be ready."
