Beau Greaves and Carl Sneyd claimed titles as the 2025 Winmau Challenge Tour season began in Milton Keynes on Friday.
The opening day of the 2025 Challenge Tour saw Greaves defeat Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont to clinch the Event One crown, before Sneyd ran out a 5-1 winner against Tommy Lishman to triumph in Event Two.
However, Greaves stole the headlines in Friday’s marathon double-header, coming through a bumper 296-player field to become the second woman to win a Challenge Tour event.
Greaves – a winner on the Development Tour in 2023 - maintained a 90+ average throughout her successful campaign, winning nine straight matches to create another slice of history at Arena MK.
The 21-year-old conceded just two legs in wins over Patrick Quinn, Mike Warburton and Alexander Merkx, before denying World Youth Championship runner-up Jurjen van der Velde in round four.
Greaves backed this up with impressive victories over Jamie Atkins, Keenan Thomas, Henry Coates and Germany’s Michael Unterbuchner to set up a showdown against Bellmont.
The Swiss star defied a superb start from Greaves to establish a 4-2 cushion, only for the two-time Women’s World Matchplay winner to complete a late turnaround, after surviving five match darts in the decider.
Bellmont averaged 106 in his semi-final win over Lishman, who edged out Australian icon Simon Whitlock in the Event One quarter-finals, while Mervyn King averaged 110 in reaching the same stage.
Lishman also featured in the latter stages of Event Two, although it was 37-year-old Sneyd who claimed the spoils, taking out 74, 78 and 86 combinations to clinch his first PDC title.
Sneyd saw off Maximilian Nirschl, Chris Hurds and Paul Rowley to reach the last 32, where he brushed aside Scotland’s former World Cup winner John Henderson 5-1.
The Oldham-born star then averaged 107 in a five-leg blitz of Reece Colley, and after whitewashing Gilbert van der Meijden in the last eight, he fought off Jeffrey Sparidaans in the semi-finals.
Following Friday's opening double-header, the 2025 Winmau Challenge Tour season continues on Saturday, as Events 3-4 take place at Arena MK.
The top two players from the final 2025 Challenge Tour Order of Merit will secure a PDC Tour Card for 2026/27 and a place in the 2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship.
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Click here match stats & results.
2025 Winmau Challenge Tour
Friday January 17, Arena MK, Milton Keynes
Event One
Quarter-Finals
Stefan Bellmont 5-2 Jarno Bottenberg
Tommy Lishman 5-3 Simon Whitlock
Beau Greaves 5-1 Henry Coates
Michael Unterbuchner 5-4 Mervyn King
Semi-Finals
Stefan Bellmont 5-3 Tommy Lishman
Beau Greaves 5-3 Michael Unterbuchner
Final
Beau Greaves 5-4 Stefan Bellmont
Event Two
Quarter-Finals
Tommy Lishman 5-2 Graham Usher
Kevin Burness 5-2 Nathan Girvan
Jeffrey Sparidaans 5-4 Christopher Wickenden
Carl Sneyd 5-0 Gilbert van der Meijden
Semi-Finals
Tommy Lishman 5-1 Kevin Burness
Carl Sneyd 5-3 Jeffrey Sparidaans
Final
Carl Sneyd 5-1 Tommy Lishman