The 2023 PDC Women’s Series continues this weekend, in the final round of action before the qualification cut-off for next month’s Betfred Women’s World Matchplay.
Events 9-12 in the 2023 Women’s Series will be held on June 24-25 in Hildesheim, as the sport’s biggest names battle it out for a place in the eight-player knockout event at the Winter Gardens.
The top eight players on the rolling 12-month Women's World Matchplay Order of Merit following Event 12 will seal their place in July’s Blackpool extravaganza, which will be televised live on Sky Sports.
The second edition of the Women’s World Matchplay will take place on the afternoon of Sunday July 23, with teenage sensation Beau Greaves already confirmed as the number one seed.
Greaves has won 12 of the 16 Women's Series events since last year’s Women’s World Matchplay, which included a remarkable 70-match winning streak stretching over the course of ten events.
The 19-year-old boasts an £8,300 lead over Japanese trailblazer Mikuru Suzuki, who occupies second spot in the qualification race after scooping a brace of Women’s Series titles in 2023.
Suzuki will also make her Blackpool bow following her impressive consistency over the last 12 months, which has seen her feature in eight of the last 16 finals on the Women’s Series circuit.
Wales’ Rhian O’Sullivan and Irish youngster Robyn Byrne are third and fourth respectively on the Order of Merit, after winning maiden Women’s Series titles in Milton Keynes last month.
Reigning Women’s World Matchplay champion Fallon Sherrock looks poised to make her Blackpool return, as she arrives in Germany in fifth position on the provisional rankings.
Sherrock – awarded an MBE in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours list – defeated Aileen de Graaf to scoop the £10,000 winner’s prize in last year’s inaugural event, which also saw her qualify for her third World Darts Championship.
Four-time Women’s World Champion Lisa Ashton is £1,550 above the cut-off in sixth spot, with last year’s runner-up De Graaf also well placed in seventh position.
Lorraine Winstanley occupies the eighth and final provisional spot in Blackpool, with emerging Dutch thrower Noa-Lynn van Leuven just £100 adrift of qualification with four events remaining.
Katie Sheldon and Laura Turner – both of whom featured in last year’s Women’s World Matchplay – also remain in contention, alongside Kirsty Hutchinson and Kim Holden.
Deta Hedman and Corrine Hammond are both over £1,000 behind the qualification cut-off as they bid to complete a remarkable turnaround at Halle 39, on a weekend which will see 78 players in action.
Events 9-10 will take place on Saturday June 24, before Events 11-12 round off the weekend’s action on Sunday June 25, with live coverage streamed exclusively on PDCTV.
The expansion of the PDC Women’s Series in 2023 will see 24 events held across six weekends, including a total prize fund of up to £240,000 - doubling the prize money per event to £10,000*.
The top two players from the final PDC Women's Series Order of Merit will qualify to compete in the 2023/24 World Darts Championship, alongside the winner of the 2023 Betfred Women's World Matchplay.
Click here to see the 12-month Women's World Matchplay Order of Merit
* The prize money increase announced in November stated that prize money in the Last 64 would only be paid should entries exceed 128 players. In Events 5-8, this was not correctly applied and Last 64 loser prize money was added. As such, this has now been removed from the relevant Orders of Merit ahead of Events 9-12.