Clare Bywaters's dream of winning the World Darts Championship ended after a narrow 2-1 defeat by Dutch rival Francisca Hoenselaar in last night's semi-final at Lakeside Leisure Centre, Frimley Green.

Bywaters (left), 31, an assistant financial controller from Didcot, who beat Denmark's world No 3, Carina Ekberg, 2-0, in the quarter-finals was hoping for a repeat of last year when she defeated Hoenselaar to win the European Cup in Belgium.

In front of a packed crowd, which included her parents Peter and Marion, she lost the first set, but took the second and set up a third-leg decider.

However, her hopes were extinguished as Hoenslaar took the final set 3-1 to set up tonight's final against England's world champion Trina Gulliver.

Bywaters, who will be watching the final, said: "I felt good about the match.

"It was a very tight game, but Francisca played well. I was pleased with my performance. I lost 2-1 in sets with an average of 27, but I'm just disappointed with the result.

"I think I did pretty well to get to the semi-finals, as it was my first time at the world championships. But it didn't go my way.

"But I'm already looking forward to next year. The crowd was huge. There was a fantastic atmosphere."

But Bywaters won't have much time to reflect on what might have been, as she will be focusing on her preparations for a world ranking tournament in Holland.