2024 Women’s World Matchplay Preview

Beau Greaves will defend her Betfred Women’s World Matchplay championship against Irish teenager Katie Sheldon, as the eight-player lineup has been confirmed on Sunday for July’s event.

The third staging of the £25,000 event will take place on this afternoon at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, and will be aired live on Sky Sports and via the PDC’s global broadcast partners.

Eight of the best players in the women’s game will compete for the £10,000 top prize on a busy afternoon in the Empress Ballroom, including four World Champions.

The competition consists of eight players from a one-year Order of Merit based on PDC Women’s Series earnings over 24 tournaments since last July, with defending champion Greaves returning to Blackpool as the top seed.

Greaves Looking For Double

Greaves raced to victory on her debut a year ago, and the 20-year-old has won nine more Women’s Series titles since then, reaffirming her place as the best player in the game.

The incumbent champion will face Katie Sheldon in her first match, as the Irish youngster returns to the Winter Gardens after missing out on last year’s event.

Beau Greaves is strong favourite again with our sponsors again, however not as big as she was 12 months ago, that will be due to the form we have seen from Fallon Sherrock and Noa-Lynn van Leuven.

The draw also includes a thrilling quarter-final matchup between 2022 winner Fallon Sherrock and three-time Lakeside Women’s winner Anastasia Dobromyslova.

Sherrock triumphed in the tournament’s maiden staging, and after winning four of the previous five Women’s Series events in 2023, she added two more wins to her tally in 2024.

Dobromyslova, meanwhile, returned to prominence after reaching back-to-back Women’s Series finals last September, and she will make her Blackpool debut as the seventh seed.

Lisa Ashton, the third seed, won back-to-back Women’s Series titles on Sunday to surpass Mikuru Suzuki on the Order of Merit, earning a last-eight match against Wales’ Rhian O’Sullivan.

Ashton and Sherrock will retain their unrivalled record in Blackpool, while O’Sullivan returns after competing in two Women’s Series finals in the previous year.

The other quarter-final matchup will pit 2023 runner-up Suzuki against two-time tournament winner Noa-Lynn van Leuven, with the winner facing Greaves or Sheldon in the semi-finals.

Suzuki, the fourth seed in her Winter Gardens return, has upped her Women’s Series title tally to six after a good start in 2024.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Van Leuven has had a breakout season, winning the Women’s Series in March and April after a historic win on the Winmau Challenge Tour.

The winner of the Betfred Women’s World Matchplay will advance to November’s Grand Slam of Darts and the 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship, as well as the £10,000 top prize.

NB: Aileen de Graaf, who finished eighth in the final 12-month Order of Merit, has notified the PDC that she is unable to compete in Blackpool owing to a prior obligation. As a result, Katie Sheldon will now enter the field for the event.

2024 Betfred Women’s World Matchplay

Sunday July 21 2024

Order of Play (1pm)

(1) Beau Greaves v (8) Katie Sheldon

(4) Mikuru Suzuki v (5) Noa-Lynn van Leuven

(2) Fallon Sherrock v (7) Anastasia Dobromyslova

(3) Lisa Ashton v (6) Rhian O’Sullivan

Format

Quarter-Finals – Best of seven legs

Semi-Finals – Best of nine legs

Final – Best of 11 legs

Prize Money

Winner: £10,000

Runner-Up: £5,000

Semi-Finalists: £2,500

Quarter-Finalists: £1,250

Total: £25,000