The sixth day of the 2021 William Hill World Darts Championship started with bad news. Martijn Kleermaker, whose first round match against South African Cameron Carolissen was scheduled as first game of the evening session, has been tested positive for Covid-19 and was immediately withdrawn from the competition.
In the run-up to the World Championship the PDC has determined five potential replacdments. Top of the list is the former World Youth Championship finalist Josh Payne. who is currently in self-isolation after he had contact with an infected person within the last 24 hours as well. The PDC then decided, also due to the short time left, not to contact any further replacements and to give Cameron Carolissen a bye for the first round.
The afternoon session started with the duel of the two youngsters Derk Telnekes (Netherlands) and Nick Kenny (England). In a close duel Kenny won narrowly by 3:2.
The highlight of the afternoon session was the Russian qualifier Dmitryi Gorbunov, who celebrated his walk-on impressively and full of joy despite the empty hall. However, it was of little use to him. In the end Gorbunov lost by 1:3 against Jason Lowe although Lowe missed many darts on doubles. For Lowe it is the first win on his World Championship debut. In round two he will meet world number four Michael Smith.
Maik Kuivenhoven meanwhile had an unsuccessful debut losing his match 0:3 against Matthew Edagr. For Edgar it was the first success in his third attempt at the World Championships. Edgar will play his second round match against Austrian Mensur Suljovic on Wednesday.
The best match of the afternoon took place between Vincent van der Voort and Ron Meulenkamp from the Netherlands in Round 2 of the 2021 World Darts Championship. Meulenkamp quickly took a 2:0 lead, punishing van der Voort’s weaknesses and being crucial on his doubles.
But Van der Voort came back on 1:2 and promptly improved from there on. Meulenkamp, on the other hand, was losing it more and more and so the game went into the deciding fifth set and finally into a sudden death leg. Here van der Voort kept the upper hand and finalised his great comeback.
In the evening the last first round match for this year was on the agenda. Keegan Brown showed better nerves in the decisive moments and won clearly 3:0 against Ryan Meikle.
The two following matches were both second round matches. The first match was Jeffrey de Zwaan against Ryan Searle. De Zwaan convinced with his scoring and threw nine 180s but had some problems with his doubles. Despite averaging 98 de Zwaan only could get four legs to his hand. Ryan Searle punished that consequently to seal a 3:0-win and is now for the third time in a row in the last 32 of the World Championship.
Jeffrey de Zwaan on the other hand is after Jamie Hughes the second seeded player who’s being eliminated in round two already.
Jonny Clayton did better at the end of the evening. Clayton showed more confidence and consistency than his opponent John Henderson and took a quick 2:0 lead at the beginning of the match.
Henderson, however, fought and came back to 1:2. Also in the fourth set it looked for a long time as if Henderson could level the match after he already led 2:0 in the legs. But Clayton fought back again and won three legs in a row to book a 3:1 win.
Tonight the World Darts Championship 2021 will go on with the second round. Then with Gerwyn Price the next top favourite will enter the tournament. Price will play the third match of the evening against his Welsh compatriot Jamie Lewis. Gabriel Clemens and Nico Kurz will close the evening in the first German-German duel in the history of the World Darts Championship.
William Hill World Darts Championship 2021
Sunday, 20. December 2020
3x Round 1 + 1x Round 2
Afternoon session
Derk Telnekes 2:3 Nick Kenny
Jason Lowe 3:1 Dmitryi Gorbunov
Matthew Edgar 3:0 Maik Kuivenhoven
Vincent van der Voort 3:2 Ron Meulenkamp (R2)
William Hill World Darts Championship 2021
Sunday, 20. December 2020
2x Round 1 + 2x Round 2
Evening session
Cameron Carolissen : Bye
Keegan Brown 3:0 Ryan Meikle
Jeffrey de Zwaan 0:3 Ryan Searle (R2)
Jnny Clayton 3:1 John Henderson (R2)
William Hill World Darts Championship 2021
Monday, 21. December 2020
4x Round 2
Evening session
Krzysztof Ratajski : Ryan Joyce
Ian White : Kim Huybrechts
Gerwyn Price : Jamie Lewis
Gabriel Clemens : Nico Kurz
