Brilliant Beau Greaves keeps Grand Slam hopes alive

Grand Slam debutant Greaves fired in five maximums during her deciding-leg defeat to Nathan Aspinall in Saturday's opening group matches, and she delivered another brutal display of scoring to sweep aside emerging German talent Pietreczko.

The Women’s World Matchplay champion, roared on by a packed crowd at WV Active Aldersley, raced into a 3-0 lead, before a pumped-up Pietreczko opened his account with a 118 combination in leg four.

However, Greaves restored her three-leg buffer with a clinical 90 kill on the bullseye, before wrapping up a landmark victory with a brilliant 12-darter.

Greaves now plays Australian number one Damon Heta on Tuesday in a straight shoot-out for qualification for the knockout phase of the Grand Slam.

“What a feeling; I can’t really explain it - I’m so happy,” said the 19-year-old from Doncaster, after becoming the third woman to taste victory in the Grand Slam.

“I’ve just been so relaxed and I’ve really enjoyed it, and that is when I play my best darts.

“I’m really looking forward to the game on Tuesday now. I’ve won a game at the Grand Slam, and nobody can take this away from me!”

In the other Group H tussle, last year’s runner-up Aspinall converted 122 and 151 finishes to seal a 5-2 success against Heta, which ended Pietreczko’s hopes of progressing to the knockout stage.

Aspinall is joined in the last 16 by three-time champion Gerwyn Price, who continued his Grand Slam of Darts love-affair with a sensational whitewash win over Ryan Searle.

The Welshman swept aside Searle in less than eight minutes to confirm top spot in Group D, recording winning legs of 16, 11, 12, 14 and 15 darts to triumph with a stunning 110.51 average.

“I felt good up there. I knew I was through with a win, which gave me that extra edge,” revealed Price, who has claimed a hat-trick of titles in his four visits to the Aldersley venue.

“I was in the zone. I was putting Ryan under a lot of pressure which was a good feeling, but I didn’t realise how well I was playing.

“I think that sends out a statement. The format gets longer in the knockout stage, but that’s when I get better and better, so hopefully I can improve from here.”

Searle will now play Nathan Rafferty for a place in the last 16 on Monday night, after the Northern Irishman averaged 103 in a superb 5-2 success against Gian van Veen, which also eliminated the Dutchman.

Elsewhere, former World Youth Champion Josh Rock confirmed his place in the last 16 with an emphatic 5-1 success against a below-par Jonny Clayton, with the Northern Irish ace having claimed the scalp of Chris Dobey in his Group D opener on Saturday.

Masters champion Dobey now takes on Clayton in a decisive showdown on Monday, after defying two ton-plus checkouts from Berry van Peer to triumph in a gruelling deciding-leg contest.

Danny Noppert made it two wins from two in Group F, defying a late fightback from UK Open champion Andrew Gilding to close out a hard-fought 5-3 victory.

Meanwhile, Brendan Dolan reignited his Group F campaign with a 5-2 win against Haruki Muramatsu, averaging almost 98 to condemn the PDC Asian Champion to back-to-back defeats.

Groups A-D draw to a close on Monday evening, with the top two players from each group set to progress to the knockout stage, which begins on Wednesday November 15.