Jeff Smith won his first WDF title in more than four years at the inaugural Las Vegas Classic, as Fallon Sherrock won the Women’s title to complete a sensational weekend double.
Sensational Silencer proves a cut above
After showing his form the previous day in losing the Las Vegas Open final, Jeff Smith was the class of the field in the Silver-ranked Las Vegas Classic.
‘The Silencer’ breezed through his first four matches, averaging more than 90 in all of them and dropping just two legs to set up a Last 16 meeting with Gino Florian.
Smith won that 4-2 and after beating Tokuyo Tokayama 4- 1 in the quarter-finals, he came through a dramatic back-and-forth semi-final with Jason Brandon to seal a second final of the weekend.
There, Smith took on American international Robbie Phillips. ‘The Robot’ hadn’t hit the same heights as Smith in terms of averages but had recorded good wins over Joe Chaney, Leonard Gates and Elliot Milk in the point-scoring rounds of the competition.
Phillips couldn’t match Smith’s brilliance in the final though, with the Canadian running out an impressive 5-0 winner. Smith kicked off the final with a 120 finish and would go on to record a brilliant 10-darter before sealing victory with an 18-darter and a 97.6 average.
Although there’s still a lot of darts to be played this year, Smith’s brilliant weekend haul in Nevada means that at the time of writing he’s in a provisional qualification spot for the 2024 WDF World Championship.
Las Vegas Classic | Men's Quarter-Finals
Robbie Phillips 4-0 Leonard Gates
Elliot Milk 4-3 Chris Lim
Jeff Smith 4-1 Tokuyo Takayama
Jason Brandon 4-2 Jake Macmillan
Semi-Finals
Robbie Phillips 4-2 Elliot Milk
Jeff Smith 4-3 Jason Brandon
Final
Jeff Smith 5-0 Robbie Phillips
Sherrock wraps up brilliant weekend double
Fallon Sherrock had booked her Lakeside return in Saturday’s Las Vegas Open and on Sunday she pushed herself further up the rankings with an impressive title triumph in the Women’s Las Vegas Classic.
‘The Queen of the Palace’ kicked off her campaign with a 90.18 average and was then a comfortable winner as she knocked off Rena Laroux, Jessica Melton, Anca Zijlstra and Lisa Yee to reach the final.
There she took on former England teammate Deta Hedman, who had justified her billing as top seed by reaching the final without dropping a leg in five matches.
The final was neck and neck through the first four legs but Sherrock’s two 180s in that period were an indication of what was to come, with the 29-year-old producing a three-leg burst to win the final 5-2 with an 87.83 average.
Las Vegas Classic | Women's Quarter-Finals
Deta Hedman 4-0 Brittany Edgett
Shea Cole 4-2 Maria Carli
Fallon Sherrock 4-1 Anca Zijlstra
Lisa Yee 4-1 Julie Weger
Semi-Finals
Deta Hedman 4-0 Shea Cole
Fallon Sherrock 4-1 Lisa Yee
Final
Fallon Sherrock 5-2 Deta Hedman
Double joy for Canada in the Las Vegas Classic Youth events
The strong showing for Canadian darts continued in the Las Vegas Classic as their teenage talents took home the Boys and Girls titles.
The Boys Classic was won by Benjamin Goddard, who beat fellow Canadian Conor Harkness 4-0 in the final.
The Girls final was a rematch of the previous day’s Las Vegas Open Girls title decider, although this time there was a different outcome.
Having initially led 3-0, Katie Gallant was pegged back to 3-3 by Mongolian-born Ankheluun Munkhbayasgalan. Gallant wasn’t deterred though, sealing victory with a match-best 28 dart leg.
