As ever in the WDF, the women get their chance to shine alongside the men as the WDF Women’s World Championship takes place and like the make equivalent, this tournament begins at the Lakeside Country Club on Saturday.
Beau Greaves stormed to the title a year ago and she is an even bigger favourite to keep hold of the crown but 23 other women will gather in the hope that one of them can pull off a major upset and walk off with the title.
Recent Winners
2022 – Beau Greaves
The Format
24 women will line up in the competition with the eight seeds progressing to the second round. The 16 unseeded players will battle it out in the first round for the right to face a seed in the last 16. The first and second rounds are the best of three sets as are the quarter finals. The semi-finals go up to the best of five sets and then the champion will be crowned for the first time over the best of seven sets. All 24 players have already been slotted into the draw. As with the men’s event, each match will be on the WDF YouTube channel.
Top Half
Beau Greaves is the number one seed this week and has been placed at the top of the draw as a result of that. The fact she chose to defend this title rather than potentially win a stack more cash having qualified for the PDC World Championship says everything about her ambition this week so it is going to take a seriously good performance from someone to beat her. Anca Zilstra, Deta Hedman and Rhian O’Sullivan are the seeds hoping that display comes from them.
In truth, there isn’t a great deal of competition among the unseeded players in this half of the draw. Laura Turner is probably the most famous of them although she is probably more recognisable from here punditry and commentary on Sky Sports than any achievements at this level. Paula Jacklin has been around forever but could only finish at 52 in the Women’s Series averages. Lorraine Hyde and Suzanne Smith will hope to be competitive.
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Bottom Half
The bottom half of the draw is very much the place to be given the likelihood of Greaves dominating the top half. The highest seed in the lower part of the bracket is Aileen de Graaf. She is an experienced Lakeside thrower but she has never made the final of this event, although to be fair to her she has run into Greaves in the quarter final in the last two years. Lisa Ashton is a potential semi-final opponent for the Dutch ace with Wendy Harper and Lorraine Winstanley the other two seeded players.
The beaten finalist of a year ago is in among the unseeded players in this half of the draw. That is Kirsty Hutchinson but her form hasn’t been as strong this year so she might be up against it as she bids to emulate her exploits of last season. Priscilla Steenbergen and Veronika Ihasz are two others who are in the field while Jo Clements has plenty of experience but she didn’t fare particularly well in the Women’s Series events.
Betting
The market will tell you that this is a two horse race and I wouldn’t disagree with that. I actually think this is a one horse race but if there is a significant stumbling block for Beau Greaves then it comes in the form of the former champion Lisa Ashton. I’m not sure I would bet Ashton if there wasn’t an each way option in this market but I’m not sure there is anyone to beat Ashton prior to the final over the format of this tournament so it might be worth taking our chances in the final.
Ashton didn’t play this event over last year because she had a PDC Tour Card but in the seven previous events she won four of them, lost twice to Mikuru Suzuki who isn’t here this year, and the other she lost to the eventual winner Trina Gulliver. Ashton’s record in this event stands the test of time and if Greaves is to be beaten I think it will be the heavy scoring Ashton who does it, but even if she doesn’t we’ll have profit banked should she make the final.
Tips
Back L.Ashton to win WDF Women’s World Championship (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 7.50 with Bet365 (1/4 1-2)
