'Queen of the Palace' next in action on Friday December 27 when she faces Chris Dobey for a last-16 place
Sunday 22 December 2019 19:25, UK
If Fallon Sherrock smashed through the ceiling of world sport on Tuesday, Saturday night saw her rocket into the stratosphere as she took everything in her stride.
As she stood on the brink of yet another huge sporting breakthrough, in front of a crowd that cheered her every arrow, Sherrock did what she has done all week - stayed calm, remained composed, and played her darts.
It was fitting that for a suitably show-stopping moment, the new 'Queen of the Palace' sunk the bullseye to beat Mensur Suljovic, the 11th best player on planet darts according to the Order of Merit.
Many of the headlines will be about the adversity that Sherrock has overcome, her status as a single mother or her profession away from the oche. But right now, the former hairdresser is the hottest property in darts - maybe even sport - for her groundbreaking achievements in north London.
"I'm so excited to see what opportunities open. Who wouldn't want the chance to play in the Premier League? I'm still just excited for my next game," said Sherrock, who has already banked £25,000 for reaching the third round.
If you had asked me a few weeks ago if I would be doing this, I would have said 'you are having a laugh'.
"If I can carry on making the money I am, and playing to this standard, I would love it - but I just need more opportunities to do it.
"I have proved myself and I want to carry on doing it because I love it."
Saturday night's performance was remarkable for its controlled excellence as well as its headline-grabbing status. With all around her at Alexandra Palace going bonkers, and Suljovic losing his way, Sherrock was the coolest person in the building.
Make no mistake, like her first-round match against Ted Evetts, Sherrock won out by playing some magnificent stuff. Her finishing was among the best in the tournament so far.
The statistics barely do it justice.
Hitting 11 of her 16 darts at double, she made no mistake when the opportunities presented themselves. A string of combination finishes underpinned the three sets and 11 legs that she won, each of which came in 18 darts or fewer.
"I feel really comfortable up there, I can't explain it. I prepared the same way that I did against Ted and it seems to have paid off.
"I said that if I could keep up with his scoring, if the opportunities came I would try and take them out. All I have been doing is practising my finishing and it showed. My doubles percentage was great.
"The fact that I have beaten one of the best players in the world is incredible. If you had asked me a few weeks ago if I would be doing this, I would have said 'you are having a laugh'.
"When I took out the 131, I was like 'come on, get back into it, put some pressure on him' and that made me finish it."
Before the tournament, Sky Sports' Wayne Mardle and Laura Turner put forward the case for this year's tournament being the right time for the women to make their mark and claim a victory that everyone, including the men they play, know they are capable of.
When we play the men, it brings out our better game and we are just out to prove ourselves.
Mikuru Suzuki was first to try, falling agonisingly short against James Richardson. But inspired by the Japanese reigning world champion, Sherrock produced the goods to beat Evetts earlier this week and then put the seal on a remarkable week with her performance against Suljovic.
Darts is one of the few sports where there is no reason that women and men cannot compete on an equal footing. Sherrock said as much in the press conference afterwards.
"I want to encourage more girls, more women to play the sport - it's a great sport to get into and hopefully now there is enough interest.
"All of us play better [against men] so why not give us more places? I have proved we can beat men - I have beaten two of them. Lisa, Anna, Lorraine, Mikuru... if we had more chances, more opportunities, who is to say we couldn't take out anyone else?"
As well as setting her sights on the title, she again insisted that she had proven to everyone that women deserved their place at the top table.
Sky Sports commentator Rod Studd has led the calls for greater investment in the women's game, especially with the BDO, which manages the amateur game, looking on the brink of implosion.
Sherrock, a BDO women's World Championship runner-up in 2015, is due to take her place in the field in January when the action gets under way. She has already been handed a place by the PDC at the US Masters, the American leg of the World Series of Darts, at New York's Madison Square Garden in June. What follows remains to be seen.
PDC chairman Barry Hearn and chief executive Matt Porter have so far stuck to their principle line that darts is gender-neutral and that anyone can earn themselves a spot among the professional ranks.
However, by handing two women's places courtesy of female-only qualifiers, the PDC has broken a little with their mantra, Hearn admitted as much when the announcement was made in April 2018.
Hearn argued that he could see no reason why female players had not made their mark and felt the time was right, in an expanded 96-player field, to create that opportunity.
"We made two spots in the World Championship and that's a decision that has paid off," Hearn told The Darts Show podcast in an exclusive interview.
"What we need to see now, is not just the PDC, but the amateur bodies getting involved with more professionalism, more activity and more opportunity so that they grow the grassroots of the game.
"We should specialise in what we're good at which is the professional game and the amateur game has got to rise to the challenge in today's world because otherwise, they're doing their darts players a disservice.
"I don't think that you can look to the PDC to say that there's a women's tour because frankly there's not enough strength in depth yet. The signs are that the strength in depth may be coming, so we should leave the door open.
"Whether we look at other opportunities for women to send out that positive message to say that it's worth sacrificing your life."
With Sherrock seizing the moment, the calls are only going to increase for more opportunities for the women's game, whether alongside the men or as part of a women's circuit to be created. Sherrock herself has already confirmed she will be heading to Q-School in January to earn a Tour card to play alongside the men, and anyone else who qualifies, week-in, week-out.
But as women's sport continues to take huge strides forward, the counter-argument against the level playing field offered by the PDC is whether the women's game needs a higher platform of its own.
So who better to ask than the woman of the moment?
"I think when we play the men, it brings out our better game and we are just out to prove ourselves," Sherrock said afterwards.
"If there was a tour, that would be brilliant and it would show how strong the women's game is at the moment. That is what we need."
It is testament to Sherrock's performances that the magnitude of what she has done is no longer the story - she is.
Her poise, her class, her composure and most of all her ability are blazing a trail for the women's game and women's sport but Sherrock is also blazing her own trail.
The exciting thing is it may just be the start, in this tournament and beyond.
Coverage of the World Darts Championship continues on Sky Sports Darts throughout the tournament with another double session on Sunday getting underway at 12.30pm and 7pm.
