ANALYSIS: Comparing the PDC Women's Series 'Big 6" records against one another

In recent years, the PDC has been keenly developing women's darts and nowhere has this been more present than on the PDC Women's Series. Despite the new faces and new winners emerging however, the so called 'Big 6' still seem just a cut above the rest.

In the 'Big 6', we have the all-conquering force in women's darts, two time world champion and two time Women's World Matchplay champion Beau Greaves, arguably the biggest name in women's darts Fallon Sherrock, four time women's world champion Lisa Ashton, two-time women's champion Mikuru Suzuki, the vastly experienced Welshwoman Rhian O'Sullivan and the newer, emerging force in women's darts, Noa-Lynn van Leuven.

Whilst these four can be considered the leading lights of the PDC Women's Series since its inception, how have they fared against each other? Well, in the 2024 season, Beau Greaves' record somewhat unsurprisingly stands above the rest. None of the Englishwoman's five main rivals have managed to get themselves a winning record against the 20-year-old. Although O'Sullivan (1-1) and Sherrock (2-2) have managed to beat Greaves as often as they've been beaten, Ashton (6-2 in Greaves favour), Suzuki (4-1) and Van Leuven (6-3) have been consistently bettered by Greaves.

The record of Sherrock is actually much more curious. Whilst she reached the Women's World Matchplay final last month and has tasted glory on the Women's Series in 2024, her record against the rest of the 'Big 6' is actually pretty poor. In 15 total matches against her main rivals this year, Sherrock has won 6 and lost 9. To make matters worse, 'The Queen of the Palace' does not have a winning record against any of the biggest names in women's darts.

As mentioned earlier, it's Van Leuven who has emerged as Greaves nearest challenger in recent months, with the Dutch darter currently second on the Women's Series Order of Merit. In Van Leuven's record against the 'Big 6' she has the 3-6 record vs Greaves touched upon earlier, but winning 2-1 records against both O'Sullivan and Sherrock, whilst she's yet to play to Ashton or Suzuki this season.

As for the three most experienced darters in the 'Big 6', Ashton, Suzuki and O'Sullivan all have strangely similar results. So far in 2024, Ashton is 7-9 against her main rivals, whilst both the Japanese Suzuki and the Welsh O'Sullivan have records of 5-7 versus their top rivals.

Worth nothing is that, other than Greaves, each of the 'Big 6' lose more often than they win when facing the other top stars. This fact is potentially key to explaining the extremely tight margins in the Order of Merit behind Greaves.