• Billie Jean King tweets support after second tournament win • Sherrock: ‘There is nothing to say I can’t win it. I am going to try’

Fallon Sherrock says she can win the World Darts Championship after she progressed to the last 32 with a 3-1 win over the 11th seed Mensur Suljovic at Alexandra Palace. The 25-year-old, who became the first woman to win a match at the tournament with her first-round victory over Ted Evetts, missed only five doubles in a superb performance against the Austrian.

Sherrock won the first set before Suljovic levelled the match. But Sherrock hit back and landed a dart at the bullseye to surge into the last 32, where she will meet Chris Dobey.

Fallon Sherrock: the quiet history-maker letting her darts do the talking Read more

When asked if she could win the tournament, Sherrock said: “Why not? I have won two games, I am just going to take each game as it comes but there is nothing to say that I can’t. I am going to try.

“I have just proved that we [women] can beat anyone. I have beaten two of the best players in the world. If that doesn’t show that women can play darts, I don’t know what does.”

She added: “I’m speechless. With everything that has been going on the last couple of days I have just been focusing on my finishing because I know that I can score.

“I’m still waiting for it all to sink in. I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight. It’s amazing, when that dart (at bull to win) went in it was a sigh of relief.”

Speaking to BBC Five Live on Sunday, Sherrock said it was “incredible” to have her latest win tweeted about by Billie Jean King. The 12-time tennis grand slam winner and gender equality pioneer said Sherrock was a “gamechanger”.

Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) Congratulations to @Fsherrock, who has just defeated the World No. 11 player to advance to the 3rd round of the #WorldDartsChampionship! Earlier this week, she became the 1st woman in history to win a match in the championship! #Gamechanger https://t.co/qsbrt6VxWT



“It hasn’t all sunk in yet,” Sherrock said. “I haven’t had time to process the first game, let alone this game. Then the fact that all these people are tweeting me, especially Billie Jean King.”

“Oh my god, I never thought someone like that would be contacting me or congratulating me, or anything like that. I mean, this is me. I’m just a normal person. This stuff doesn’t happen to me, but it’s incredible and I’m loving it.

Earlier, the two-times world champion Adrian Lewis hit back from two sets down to snatch victory over Spain’s Cristo Reyes. Lewis came within one dart of a nine-dart finish as he fought back to take a 3-2 victory and book a third-round meeting with Darren Webster.

Simon Whitlock and Ryan Searle scored straight-sets wins over Harry Ward and Steve West respectively, while Japan’s Seigo Asada hit back after losing the first seven legs to defeat Keegan Brown 3-2.

In the evening session, former BDO champion Glen Durrant hit a 170 finish as he eased past Damon Heta 3-0, and he will next face Daryl Gurney, who won by the same score against Justin Pipe. Belgium’s Dimitri Van Den Bergh hit 103.81 – the highest three-dart average of the tournament so far – as he also booked his place in the third round with a 3-0 win over Josh Payne.