Ashton reflects on first year on PDC Tour: "I know my game is improving every game I play, and every person I play"

Lisa Ashton is heading towards the end of her first year on the PDC Tour and has picked up some big scalps as a PDC Tour Card holder so far playing herself into form especially at the recent PDC Autumn Series.

For Ashton it is the case that every single time she plays, she is improving with more match practice with some of the best players in the world

"The more practice, the more naturally it's coming. After the [Summer] Series where I didn't do well, I knew I had to pick myself up. And then when I played like I did, I was absolutely over the moon with it," said Ashton to The Darts Show Podcast.

"It was hard with everything to get back into [the Summer Series]. Playing the best players in the world, I knew it was going to be tough, but I just had to keep going."

"I've learned a lot from it, and I knew what to expect. Going into this one I had to raise my game, but playing and practising, my game is improving every time we play."

"Playing the best players in the world, if I can push getting into the last 16, and just miss out on going further than that, it's given me confidence. I know my game is improving every game I play, and every person I play.

"So if we're doing it every day over five days, I'm learning more, improving more, and I'm getting match practice against the best players. So hopefully I can keep taking that forward and keep improving, ready for the next series coming."

With the forthcoming PDC Women's Series, Ashton picked out some names to watch as well as stating her ambitions as the only PDC Tour Card holder in the field.

"The main name is the young girl, Beau Greaves, who has been playing really, really well. And she's done brilliant on the ladies tour," added Ashton.

"You've got the top end, you've still got Anastasia [Dobromyslova], Lorraine [Winstanley], Deta [Hedman], you've got Maria [O'Brien], you've still got Laura Turner who has been doing some online [tournaments], so there's still quite a lot of them ladies who are still playing and coming through. So it could be wide open. It's always on the day."

"It's another tournament," she said. "I've got to keep focused and play like I'm playing another Pro Tour. But a lot of people do put targets on you and expect you to do that. But what I'm doing is I'm going to go into it, as if it's another Pro Tour hopefully, and I can try and claim a Grand Slam and a World Championship spot."