Fallon Sherrock profile: how the Queen of Alexandra Palace defied the odds

Fallon Sherrock - the first woman to beat a male opponent at the PDC World Darts Championship - cannot believe the adulation she has received for her historic victories over Ted Evetts and Mensur Suljovic, with tennis legend Billie Jean King leading the wave of global congratulations.

Steve Davies has everything you need to know - and the latest odds - on the Queen of Alexandra Palace.

So, from the top. What do we know about Fallon Sherrock?

Fallon Sherrock is 25, from Milton Keynes, trained to be a hairdresser and started playing darts only in her teens. She was crowned WDF world girls’ champion at 17 in 2011.

How did she qualify for Ally Pally?

She took part in the women’s qualification tournament in Wigan, capping a brilliant year with a series of sizzling performances, toppling the likes of Lisa Ashton - arguably the best lady arrowsmith we’ve ever seen - and Lorraine Winstanley. She averaged 99.1 when beating Lisa Brosnan.

So presumably she’s got some pedigree in the women’s game?

Well, yes, in as much as she is getting better and better, but the pinnacle of the women's darts calendar is the BDO world championship at the Lakeside. She has gone out at the quarter-final stage of the last three runnings and never won it.

What’s unfolding at the Palace is simply testament to the work she has put in and she probably forms an elite quartet in the women’s game alongside Ashton and Anastasia Dobromyslova (who qualified for the worlds last year) and current world champ Mikuru Suzuki, who almost toppled James Richardson in round one.

Was she fancied coming into this event?

Absolutely not. She had been available at 5,000-1 to win the tournament with a couple of firms. She was 500-1 to win her quarter. She was touching 10-1 to beat Ted Evetts in her opener and then, having done that, was around 8-1 to see off 11th seed Mensur Suljovic in round two.

Was she a worthy winner in those matches?

There’s no doubt that with a highly partisan crowd backing Sherrock's bid to make history, both Evetts and Suljovic were flustered. But having said that, she averaged 91.1 and 41 per cent on her checkouts in beating Evetts 3-2 and 90.67 and an outrageous 68 per cent on checkouts in her 3-1 win over Suljovic, which she finished on the bull. She has hit ten 180s in total and looks nerveless.

And how nerveless will Chris Dobey be? Presumably fancy odds about Sherrock now no longer exist?

He won’t know what’s hit him. He’s the 22nd seed, 11 places lower than Suljovic, yet in terms of 2019 form he has had a better campaign than the Austrian. He represents, in theory at least, Sherrock’s sternest test yet. But he’ll have a 3,000 crowd baying for him to lose and incredibly he is priced at 2-9, odds that wouldn't have lasted more than a few seconds a month ago, with Sherrock 4-1.

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So can she win it?

She says she can. She’s riding the crest of a wave and will be feeling invincible, although odds of 250-1 that she lifts the Sid Waddell Trophy tell you it's still highly unlikely.

What is beyond doubt is that she looks so calm on the big stage and that’s an incredible plus. But could she beat Gerwyn Price or Peter Wright or a Michael van Gerwen? All logic says no – but I’d love to be proved wrong.

Sherrock is young enough and good enough to be around for a while, so this doesn't have to be her only shot at the big-time.

Next up there’s the BDO women's world championship in January, for which she’s seeded fourth and the 2-1 favourite.

But that is a mere hors d’oeuvre for what’s possible. The PDC have already given her a place at the World Series event in Las Vegas in June and they have been bombarded with calls to give her a Premier League spot. Paddy Power quote 4-1 that she gets one, shorter odds than Ian White or Adrian Lewis.

She's 25-1 to win next year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

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