World No1 Luke Humphries forced to fight from behind to survive huge scare to edge past women’s champion Beau Greaves

BEAU GREAVES came within three legs of producing the greatest darts performance by a woman on TV as she was knocked out of the UK Open by world No.1 Luke Humphries.

The Doncaster thrower, 21, went toe-to-toe with former world champion in their fourth-round clash at Butlin’s Minehead.

But in the closing stages on the main stage, she came up just short, as Humphries succeeded 10-7.

The pair embraced on the stage, shared a long hug in a huge sign of respect and then Humphries raised her hand before the crowd.

Fallon Sherrock, the Queen of the Palace, gained worldwide fame for beating two men at the PDC World Darts Championship in December 2019.

But had Greaves managed to win this tie, and she did lead 7-5, it would have been the biggest scalp by a woman in a televised tournament.

Nonetheless, it still goes a long way to reminding everyone that women can indeed compete on an equal footing with their male counterparts on the darts oche.

Humphries received a mixed reaction as he came to the oche – the crowd were firmly on Greaves’s side, especially as she had won three games to get to this stage.

The three-time women’s world champion – who walks out to ‘Rockin’ All Over the World’ by Status Quo – had started throwing in the morning in round one as she eliminated Stefan Bellmont with a 6-1 victory.

She followed that up by knocking out Rhys Griffin (6-1) and then seasoned pro Mickey Mansell (6-2) to earn herself £2,500 in prize money.

BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS

Humphries, 30, had won the Premier League night in Exeter almost 24 hours earlier, finally getting a win over Luke Littler in the competition to bank £10,000, but he was never going to underestimate his opponent despite the quick turnaround.

And he would have been given an almighty shock as she opened up with a 126 finish on the Bull and then broke his throw in leg two with a 124.

The Berkshire thrower stopped the flow against him with a break in leg three and by drawing level in leg four but Greaves went into the first TV ad break 3-2 up.

A 100 checkout in leg six saw her go 4-2 up and she had multiple darts to move 5-2, which would have meant halfway towards the biggest win of her young career.

It was 5-5 at the midway juncture of the clash and you wondered how much the late night for Humphries would take its toll.

He had to play three times and 31 legs on Thursday night and then faced a 90-minute drive across Devon and Somerset counties to reach the seaside resort.

Humphries had a chance to go 6-5 up, the first time he would have led, but he fluffed those opportunities and looked rattled.

Yet from 7-5 down, Cool Hand showed his class, winning the next five legs in a row to move into the fifth round.

A relieved Humphries said: “I really enjoyed the game. That is what I said to Beau afterwards.

“It was great fun. She was amazing. She played so great. I think she dropped off in the end. It’s a long format, probably not used to playing that.

“She was a fantastic player there. She had to bring out the best in me.

“She belongs in big time darts. She’s a massive advocate for the ladies game, which has grown massively, because of her. She belongs in this environment.

“She really tested me there. If this was a Premier League game, she would have beaten me.”

Beau added: “I set off well. I knew towards the end of the match I dropped off a bit.

“That is what I am trying to work towards being better in my game.

“Consistency over those longer formats – I am not used to that.

“What an experience. To play someone like Luke. It’s just amazing for me and my game. It will bring me on a long way. I am really pleased.

“Honestly, I just enjoyed watching him throw, in a weird way. I enjoyed it. That is something I want to work towards this year.”