Greaves & De Graaf secure Women's Series success in Niedernhausen

Beau Greaves secured a record-extending 24th PDC Women's Series title on Saturday, as Aileen de Graaf celebrated a landmark maiden win in Niedernhausen.

Saturday's double-header saw 85 players in action at the H+ Hotel, as the biggest names in the women's game returned to action for the first time since July’s Women's World Matchplay.

Greaves successfully retained her title at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens last month, and she extended her lead at the top of the Women’s Series Order of Merit with Event 13 victory in Germany.

The 20-year-old averaged 95.74 to defeat Noa-Lynn van Leuven 5-1 in Saturday’s opening final, conceding just four legs in six matches to clinch her fourth Women’s Series title of 2024.

Greaves recorded a trio of whitewash wins in advancing to the last eight, dispatching Fiona Roberts, Priscilla Steenbergen and Kelly Streef before sweeping aside Daniela Schug 5-2 in the quarter-finals.

The Doncaster darter continued the procession with a 5-1 thrashing of Natalie Gilbert in the last four, before converting a stunning 148 checkout to wrap up victory over Van Leuven by the same scoreline.

Van Leuven also impressed in advancing to a third Women’s Series final of 2024, averaging 90 and 92 in wins over Kim Holden and Aurora Fochesato.

The Dutch star then overturned a 4-2 deficit against Robyn Byrne in the last eight, and she reeled off four consecutive legs from 4-1 down to dump out De Graaf in the semi-finals.

However, De Graaf avenged that result on her way to a maiden PDC title in Event 14, which she sealed with a hard-fought 5-2 success against Anca Zijlstra.

De Graaf – a Women’s World Matchplay runner-up in 2022 – had lost in all five of her previous Women’s Series finals, but she finally broke that duck to become the seventh different winner on the circuit in 2024.

Following convincing wins over Sandy Wolf, Laura Patton and Tanja Klueners, De Graaf survived match darts in the last 16 to thwart Greaves’ bid for back-to-back titles.

The 34-year-old then ran out a 5-2 winner against Van Leuven in the quarter-finals, before seeing off four-time Lakeside Women’s Champion Lisa Ashton in a heavyweight semi-final showdown.

Zijlstra dumped out two-time Lakeside Women’s Champion Mikuru Suzuki and former women's world number one Lorraine Winstanley in her run to the Event 14 decider, only to fall short against her compatriot.

This weekend's PDC Women's Series action draws to a close with Events 15-16 on Sunday, and live coverage will get underway from approximately 0915 BST on PDCTV.