FAlan Sherrock put a hand on her face, shook his head in disbelief, then smiled and fired his arrows. “I don’t know how to do that,” said the English “darts queen” after reaching the next milestone at the Grand Slam. Sherrock made it to the quarter-finals as the first woman to be televised live at a PDC World Association event in Wolverhampton — and her fairy tale may go on.

Sherrock was impressed by his next success on the big darts stage, but he had hardly shown any emotion in the last 16 duels with Austrian Mensur Suljovi. The 27-year-old showed his qualities as ice cold and took a 10:5 win despite a 2-0 deficit. Suljovic, who had already failed in the second round of the British at the World Cup two years earlier, had no chance.

In the world of darts, Sherrock, with his pink shirt and hydrogen-blonde hair, has long been more than just a splash of color. The “Queen of the Palace”, as she has been called since her strong presence in the World Cup, can now compete with the best of the best. And it’s almost a little scary for him. “I’m in the last eight in a Major. How incredible is that?”, Sherrock asked, “I’m really proud of myself. I knew I could do it.” Now the former Scottish world champion Peter Wright, to whom Sherrock lost 5-1 in the group stage, is waiting for him. “I’m really looking forward to playing against Peter,” she said. “Hopefully I can score the doubles I missed against him last time, then it will be a close game.”

“Snakebite” Wright has been warned. Sherrock broke Lisa Ashton’s women’s record (100.3) during the week in a 5–0 “whitewash” against Belgium’s Mike de Decker, averaging 101.55 points per shot. He defeated German Gabriel Clemens 5: 3, while Sherrock checked 170 points and thus had the highest possible end of the match.