Darts: Fallon Sherrock's run falters in third round

The shock success story of the opening rounds of the World Darts Championship came to an end in the third round on Friday at the Alexandra Palace in London. 

The world No. 4 in the women's game, Fallon Sherrock, qualified for the men's championship, and then proceeded to beat Ted Evetts in the opening round and men's world No. 11 Mensur Sulijovic in the second round. 

But against 22nd seed and fellow English national Chris Dobey, Sherrock fell short. Dobey won the match by 4 sets to 2, ultimately winning the decisive last two sets quite comfortably after an evenly matched start to the game. Sherrock's impressive accuracy throwing doubles at the end of legs kept her in contention for most of the game despite Dobey outscoring her consistently. But the world No. 24 really hit his stride late in the match. 

"This girl can play, and I needed to be at my best," Dobey told UK broadcaster Sky Sports after the game, adding that he could scarcely believe Sherrock was holding her own in the first four legs even though he was outscoring her consistently. "She's been absolutely outstanding, also today." 

The pair posed together after the game, with Dobey encouraging the crowd to show some appreciation for the sensation of the opening rounds at the "Ally Pally." When it was Sherrock's turn to answer questions on stage, she couldn't hear the interviewer over the notoriously rowdy darts crowd.

"I tell you what: I've actually enjoyed myself so much. And honestly, Chris just played so well. Unfortunately it wasn't my result, but I can't take anything away from him, he played so well," Sherrock said. "Thank you to everyone, it's been amazing. Hopefully I can experience it again, because it's been unbelievable." 

Darts is one of the comparatively few sports — also including snooker, motor sports, golf and equestrian events — that have no explicit restrictions on gender, with women welcome to compete against men. However, in the majority of these sports, men have continued to dominate to such an extent that separate women's competitions have been established to give female players a chance to shine.

Sherrock became the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship, the biggest competition of the year. Two of her key rivals in the women's game, Lisa Ashton and Anastasia Dobromyslova, made the cut last year, but both were eliminated in the first round.

Sherrock also said she hoped to make the cut for next year's PDC World Championship, although first she would turn her attention to the 2020 BDO Women's World Championship in London in January. She was already one of the favorites for that crown, going into the competition as fourth seed, even before her December heroics.

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