Lisa Ashton became the first woman to win at the UK Open since 2005 when she beat Aaron Beeney in the second round and made history in doing so.
The 50-year-old downed Beeney 6-2 to become the first female to win at this tournament since Dena Hedman 16 years ago.
Ashton, who is the first woman to hold a PDC Tour card, did it in style as her staggering average of 100.3 is a new world record for a woman in a televised match.
π‘π²π πͺπΌπΏπΉπ± π₯π²π°πΌπΏπ± Lisa Ashton sets a 100.3 average in her victory over Aaron Beeney, setting a new World Record for the highest average on TV for a female player! The standards go up and up β¬οΈ pic.twitter.com/APyUHDFZzF β PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) March 5, 2021
However, her fun ended in the next round, losing 6-2 to Darius Labanauskas but it was still a day to remember.
There was more drama away from the oche after Steve Brown was made to forfeit his second-round match against Scott Waites in bizarre circumstances.
Brown claims there was no space to sit down in the practice room so he made his way back to his hotel room at the other end of the complex in Milton Keynes to relax before his match.
πππ¦π§π’π₯π¬ ππ’π₯ ππ¦ππ§π’π‘!πΉ Lisa Ashton claims her first win on a TV stage in the PDC, defeating Aaron Beeney 6-2! Ashton becomes the first woman to pick up a win at the UK Open since Deta Hedman in 2005. pic.twitter.com/EYuE2XXjst β PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) March 5, 2021
He started watching other matches on television and lost track of time, before seeing Waites warming up on stage on his screen.
A mad dash across the venue was in vain as he was timed out and thrown out of the competition.
Raymond Van Barneveldβs return to the tour ended in disappointment.
The Dutchman, a two-time winner of the UK Open, was playing in his first televised event since coming out of retirement but was beaten 6-3 by Alan Soutar in the second round.
πππ₯π‘ππ¬ ππ¦ π’π¨π§! On his return to televised professional darts, Raymond van Barneveld is OUT! Alan Soutar prevails, clinching a 6-3 win over the former UK Open Champion! pic.twitter.com/M2tOy2QG8R β PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) March 5, 2021
In the evening session, defending champion Michael Van Gerwen won his fourth-round match against Scott Mitchell 10-8.
Last yearβs runner-up Gerwyn Price, the PDC world champion, also advanced as he recorded a comfortable 10-5 victory over Peter Hudson.
But Peter Wright, Gary Anderson and Nathan Aspinall, the title winners of 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively, all exited.
Wright lost 10-5 to Dave Chisnall, Anderson was edged out 10-9 by Dirk Van Duijvenbode and Aspinall was beaten 10-5 by Krzysztof Ratajski.
