Grand Slam of Darts: Fallon Sherrock becomes first woman to reach last 16 in Wolverhampton

Grand Slam of Darts: Fallon Sherrock becomes first woman to reach last 16 in Wolverhampton

Fallon Sherrock continued to make more history as she became the first woman to make it through to the knockout stages of the Grand Slam of Darts with a sensational victory over Gabriel Clemens.

Sherrock produced another quite remarkable performance to battle back from 3-1 down to defeat the German No 1 with a stunning 170 finish.

Michael van Gerwen laid down a marker for the rest of the opposition after breezing through his match with John Henderson thanks to four 180s and a spectacular 125.

Defending champion Jose de Sousa required three legs to make it through, but he made hard work of it against Luke Humphries as he lived to fight another day, while Gary Anderson won the battle of the darting legends against Raymond van Barneveld.

'Queen of the Palace' Sherrock required a 5-3 win or better against Clemens and it turned out to be a titanic encounter.

A poor start allowed Clemens to break throw in the opening leg, but Sherrock hit back through double 16 to level up. A third break followed immediately with the German taking out 72 to edge closer to the four legs he required to make it through.

Sherrock's set-up play was letting her down, while Clemens continued to pull clear as he pinned tops for a 3-1 advantage.

The 27-year-old was not giving up the fight though. She struck double 9 for a hold of throw and then landed an unbelievable 141 to make it 3-3 to keep her dream alive. Sherrock kept the scoring up to hold for 4-3 to pile on the pressure.

The match came down to one leg of darts with Sherrock requiring 'The Big Fish' to make it through.

And in typical Fallon fashion, she reeled it in to set up a last-16 showdown with Mensur Suljovic, who she beat en route to the last 32 of the Worlds in 2019.

Peter Wright, the reigning World Matchplay champion, destroyed Mike De Decker - completing a 5-0 success with two double 18s for a show-stopping 90 checkout to top the group.

Anderson gets the better of old foe Barney

With seven world titles between them, Raymond van Barneveld took on Gary Anderson in an all-or-nothing clash.

It was the Scot who kept up his incredible record of having never gone out in the group stage in 15 years of competing in the Grand Slam with a comfortable 5-2 win.

The two legends of the game could not hold throw in the first three legs until Anderson took out 80 for a 3-1 lead.

Barney kept himself within touching distance with a 92 finish, but two-time runner-up Anderson pulled clear to head through to a mouth-watering meeting with Van Gerwen with a 103.88 average.

Michael Smith maintained his perfect winning record to top Group H with a 5-3 win against a wounded Joe Davis, who came into the tournament suffering with an elbow injury.

A major TV title still awaits 'Bully Boy' but the St Helens' thrower will be fancying his chances of going all the way in Wolverhampton this week after his 13th consecutive group-game victory.

Former world No 1 and three-time Grand Slam of Darts champion Van Gerwen required just one leg against Henderson to ensure qualification, but 'The Green Machine' was out to cause utter destruction on the Wolverhampton stage.

The Dutchman broke for 2-0 and looked on course to ending it in the blink of an eye, but 'The Highlander' had other ideas after landing a maximum before taking out 110.

That only seemed to annoy MVG, who stepped on the gas to win the next three legs on the spin. He finished things off with an obscene 125 (bullseye, 25, bullseye) to complete a sizzling 5-1 triumph.

'The Rockstar' Joe Cullen went up against Lisa Ashton knowing a win would put him through, but the four-time women's world champion was hoping to go out with a bang having lost her opening two Group G matches.

After sharing the opening five legs, Yorkshireman Cullen struck with a 76 checkout before completing a 5-2 victory over 'The Lancashire Rose' to join Van Gerwen in the knockout stages for the very first time.

De Sousa headed on stage knowing he had one foot in the next round of the competition, but former youth champion Humphries was out to spoil the party knowing he needed to win 5-2 or better to advance.

And 'Cool Hand' made a quite brilliant start by flying into a 2-0 lead before the Portuguese ace got on the board.

Humphries nailed a superb 117 finish to break the defending champion for a 4-1 lead and had the throw to end De Sousa's hopes of retaining his title. However, 'The Special One' pinned tops and then won an edgy leg on throw to make it into the next round.

Humphries ended up completing a 5-3 win, but it was not enough for the 26-year-old to go through.

Suljovic was in clinical form to end the hopes of Canadian Matt Campbell to move into the last 16 and a rematch with Sherrock.

The Austrian completed a stunning whitewash win in Group F thanks to a 90 checkout. He finished with a three-dart average just shy of 106 and 83 per cent on the doubles.

Don't miss a dart from the Grand Slam of Darts which continues on all week from Wolverhampton's Aldersley Leisure Village - join us from 7pm on Sky Sports Arena on Wednesday night. Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts