It is not just the men who will grace the Lakeside Country Club at the WDF World Darts Championship, the women will do too and in total 24 players will compete in the main draw looking to get their hands on the title.
Beau Greaves has dominated this tournament in the recent past but she has graduated beyond this level now which leaves the trophy open for a new pair of hands. We are guaranteed a new name on the trophy this week.
Recent Winners
2024 – Beau Greaves
2023 – Beau Greaves
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 and S4C.
Top Half
We have a really tasty top half of the draw this week with Lerena Rietbergen the number one seed and right at the top of the bracket as a result of that. She is seeded to face the New Zealand ace Nicole Regnaud in the last four should both progress that far but there is a fair chance that match doesn’t happen because also seeded in this half of the draw are the tournament favourite Rhian O’Sullivan and the experienced Aileen de Graaf.
The qualifiers in this half of the draw don’t look as strong as some have been in the past when you consider that the extended PDC World Championship has taken five women to that competition. That leaves a big chance for eight players to impress with Irina Armstrong probably the most established of them. Aletta Wajer, Joanne Hadley and Jitka Cisarova are some of the others who could put up a challenge this week.
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Bottom Half
There is no doubt that the bottom half looks more competitive on paper but perhaps not among the seeded players. Lorraine Hyde is the second seed in the draw this week and she is set to meet the veteran Deta Hedman in the semi-final should move win the two matches they need to in order to get that far. The beaten finalist of a year ago, Sophie McKinlay, is one of the other seeds in this half, as is the American player Tracy Feiertag.
There is no doubt that the qualifiers in the bottom half of the draw are much stronger than the top half though. It includes the former world champion Mikuru Suzuki, the leading player on the Women’s Series order of merit on the PDC who didn’t get an invite to Alexandra Palace in Kirsi Viinikainen while Priscilla Steenbergen has had some success on this stage in the past too. The youngster Paige Pauling and Paula Murphy are a couple of others to keep an eye on.
Betting
When you look at this draw the top half looks a bit of a minefield so I’m heading towards the bottom half of the draw even though the fourth quarter looks nasty. My pick would have been Kirsi Viinikainen prior to the draw but a pathway to the semi-final of Mikuru Suzuki, Deta Hedman and potentially Sophie McKinlay or Paige Pauling is just one awkward opponent too many so I’ve abandoned that plan and sought about activating plan B.
Priscilla Steenbergen has nothing like that sort of draw. Her route to the semi-final is Nina Lech-Musialska, who looked nothing special in the preliminary round, Tracy Feiertag, who is on debut here and none of her results look anything to worry about and then nothing worse than Lorraine Hyde who again isn’t the toughest opponent. Steenbergen reached the Czech Open final recently where she took care of Lech-Musialska in the semi-final which bodes well. She has won the Budapest Masters, Swedish Open and Bruges Open this year and at 18/1, with a draw which should get her to the semi-final, I’ll go with the Dutch woman here.
Tips
Back P.Steenbergen to win WDF Women’s World Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 19.00 with Bet365 (1/2 1-2)
