Five former champions were eliminated on a hectic opening day of the 2021 Ladbrokes UK Open in Milton Keynes on Friday as two-nine-darters were landed and history was made by Lisa Ashton.<\/p>\n
Day One of the multi-board tournament saw the opening four rounds take place across two session, with the 151 players whittled down to 32 after play across eight stages simultaneously.<\/p>\n
Reigning champion Michael van Gerwen made it safely through to Saturday afternoon’s fifth round with a hard-fought 10-8 win over Scott Mitchell, while world number one Gerwyn Price cruised through with a 10-5 defeat of Peter Hudson.<\/p>\n
It was a less straightforward evening for 2017 UK Open winner Peter Wright, who continued his slow start to 2021 in going down 10-5 to Dave Chisnall.<\/p>\n
Two-time champion Raymond van Barneveld’s return to a televised PDC stage ended in a 6-3 defeat at the hands of impressive Scottish debutant Alan Soutar in round two, who followed up with victories over Mickey Mansell and Stephen Bunting as he moved into the last 32.<\/p>\n
Nathan Aspinall made his big breakthrough at the 2019 event, but was left disappointed following a 10-5 loss to Krzysztof Ratajski, who averaged 102.6 in a clinical display.<\/p>\n
2018 champion Gary Anderson and 2014 winner Adrian Lewis also fell at the first hurdle at the hands of Dirk van Duijvenbode and Ryan Searle respectively, both of whom averaged over 100.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen is joined by James Wade as the only former winners remaining in the tournament after the 2008 and 2011 champion came through a last-leg decider against Ryan Joyce.<\/p>\n
Rising star John Brown is the last player standing from those who started in round one on Friday morning as the \u00a3450,000 tournament began.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old son of fellow-Tour Card Holder Steve Brown has enjoyed a dream debut so far with triumphs over Gavin Carlin, Nathan Rafferty, Chas Barstow and Mark McGeeney.<\/p>\n
The afternoon session saw the first three rounds take place on a typically dramatic opening session of the annual festival of darts, before an open draw was conducted for the fourth round.<\/p>\n
Two nine-darters were hit in the opening two rounds, firstly by 17-year-old Polish debutant Sebastian Bialecki in his round one win over Jim McEwan, before Dutchman Jitse van der Wal achieved perfection against Bialecki in a second round defeat.<\/p>\n
History was made by Lisa Ashton on the Main Stage, as the four-time Women’s World Champion averaged 100.3, the highest ever recorded by a woman in a televised event, in a 6-2 win over Aaron Beeney.<\/p>\n
It was also Ashton’s first win on a TV stage in the PDC and the first victory for a woman in the tournament since Deta Hedman achieved the feat in 2005, although he progress was later halted by Darius Labanauskas in the third round.<\/p>\n
The draw for the fifth round was made live on the Main Stage at the conclusion of Friday night’s action, with Van Gerwen to continue his title defence against Mensur Suljovic.<\/p>\n
That game is pencilled in to take place on the Main Stage, along with Price against Ricky Evans, Michael Smith’s meeting with Grand Slam champion Jose de Sousa and 2019 finalist Rob Cross’ tie with Wade.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile on Stage Two, Brown will look to continue his fairytale run against Chris Dobey and in-form players collide as Masters winner Jonny Clayton faces Van Duijvenbode, the 2020 World Grand Prix finalist.<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of the fifth round, the draw will be made for the sixth round – which will take place on Saturday evening across two stages.<\/p>\n
Sunday’s final day of play will see the remaining eight players return to compete for the \u00a3100,000 title.<\/p>\n
2021 Ladbrokes UK Open Second Round<\/strong> Third Round<\/strong> Evening Session Saturday March 6 Stage Two<\/strong> Stage Three<\/strong> Stage Four<\/strong> Evening Session (1900 GMT start)<\/strong> Sunday March 7 Evening Session (1900 GMT start)<\/strong> Five former champions were eliminated on a hectic opening day of the 2021 Ladbrokes UK Open in Milton Keynes on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[943,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-results"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":2981,"de":2982},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2987,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions\/2987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFriday March 5
\nAfternoon Session
\nFirst Round<\/strong>
\nMartin Schindler 6-5 Berry van Peer
\nDanny Baggish 6-3 Brett Claydon
\nKirk Shepherd 6-3 Gordon Mathers
\nBoris Koltsov 6-1 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
\nJim Williams 6-5 Zoran Lerchbacher
\nGeert Nentjes 6-5 Richie Burnett
\nRhys Griffin 6-5 Sean Fisher
\nNathan Rafferty 6-3 Matt Jackson
\nKevin McDine 6-5 Keelan Kay
\nRowby-John Rodriguez 6-4 Brian Raman
\nNiels Zonneveld 6-2 Geert De Vos
\nMaikel Verberk 6-4 Martin Lukeman
\nScott Taylor 6-4 John Michael
\nJack Main 6-2 Shane McGuirk
\nJason Heaver 6-2 Lorenzo Pronk
\nLewis Williams 6-3 Luc Peters
\nSebastian Bialecki 6-2 Jim McEwan – Sebastian Bialecki hits nine-dart finish
\nChas Barstow 6-4 Lukas Wenig
\nJoe Murnan 6-2 Matthew Dennant
\nKevin Doets 6-3 Joe Davis
\nGino Vos 6-4 Adam Gawlas
\nDamian Mol 6-4 Ritchie Edhouse
\nDom Taylor 6-5 Jake Jones
\nPeter Hudson 6-1 Ryan De Vreede
\nJohn Brown 6-3 Gavin Carlin
\nByes: Robert Collins, David Evans, Andrew Gilding, Michael Rasztovits, Martin Thomas, Scott Mitchell, Jitse van der Wal.<\/p>\n
\nLisa Ashton 6-2 Aaron Beeney
\nMaik Kuivenhoven 6-4 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
\nAlan Soutar 6-3 Raymond van Barneveld
\nKeane Barry v Geert Nentjes
\nMartin Atkins 6-3 Bradley Brooks
\nMartijn Kleermaker 6-3 Wayne Jones
\nScott Mitchell 6-5 Lewis Williams
\nCiaran Teehan 6-5 Danny Baggish
\nNick Kenny 6-5 Ryan Meikle
\nMartin Schindler 6-1 Jeff Smith
\nAndy Hamilton 6-5 Damian Mol
\nJim Williams 6-1 Kirk Shepherd
\nPeter Jacques 6-2 Michael Rasztovits
\nPeter Hudson 6-1 Jesus Noguera
\nScott Waites Bye (Steve Brown timed out)
\nRowby-John Rodriguez 6-3 Kevin McDine
\nDavid Evans 6-4 Steffen Siepmann
\nDerk Telnekes 6-2 Niels Zonneveld
\nGino Vos 6-5 Alan Tabern
\nKai Fan Leung 6-3 Joe Murnan
\nAndrew Gilding 6-1 Jon Worsley
\nJack Main 6-4 Robert Collins
\nRhys Griffin 6-4 Mike De Decker
\nScott Taylor 6-5 Maikel Verberk
\nKarel Sedlacek 6-0 Harald Leitinger
\nGary Blades 6-0 Dom Taylor
\nJohn Brown 6-5 Nathan Rafferty
\nChas Barstow 6-1 Martin Thomas
\nKrzysztof Kciuk 6-2 Ryan Murray
\nKevin Doets 6-4 William Borland
\nSebastian Bialecki 6-3 Jitse van der Wal – Jitse van der Wal hits nine-dart finish
\nEddie Lovely 6-5 Jason Heaver<\/p>\n
\nMax Hopp 6-3 William O’Connor
\nDavid Evans 6-1 Damon Heta
\nAlan Soutar 6-3 Mickey Mansell
\nMark McGeeney 6-5 Steve Beaton
\nCallan Rydz 6-5 Ross Smith
\nDarius Labanauskas 6-2 Lisa Ashton
\nKim Huybrechts 6-5 Krzysztof Kciuk
\nKeegan Brown 6-1 James Wilson
\nScott Waites 6-4 Martin Atkins
\nLuke Woodhouse 6-2 Keane Barry
\nAdam Hunt 6-0 Scott Taylor
\nRon Meulenkamp 6-2 Eddie Lovely
\nKai Fan Leung 6-5 Nick Kenny
\nMadars Razma 6-2 Jim Williams
\nJason Lowe 6-1 Steve West
\nAndy Boulton 6-3 Jelle Klaasen
\nSteve Lennon 6-4 Kevin Doets
\nKarel Sedlacek 6-0 Rhys Griffin
\nPeter Jacques 6-1 Ciaran Teehan
\nJohn Henderson 6-5 Matt Edgar
\nAndy Hamilton 6-1 Gary Blades
\nMartijn Kleermaker 6-5 Martin Schindler
\nJohn Brown 6-3 Chas Barstow
\nBrendan Dolan 6-1 Maik Kuivenhoven
\nPeter Hudson 6-1 Gino Vos
\nRowby-John Rodriguez 6-5 Josh Payne
\nDarren Webster 6-4 Ted Evetts
\nRyan Searle 6-5 Jack Main
\nScott Mitchell 6-3 Andrew Gilding
\nSebastian Bialecki 6-3 Derk Telnekes
\nByes: Ryan Joyce, Luke Humphries<\/p>\n
\nFourth Round<\/strong>
\nDaryl Gurney 10-8 Jason Lowe
\nRyan Searle 10-7 Adrian Lewis
\nMax Hopp 10-6 Vincent van der Voort
\nJohn Brown 10-6 Mark McGeeney
\nCallan Rydz 10-6 Jermaine Wattimena
\nJonny Clayton 10-7 Rowby-John Rodriguez
\nDarius Labanauskas 10-5 Darren Webster
\nMichael Smith 10-9 Joe Cullen
\nJames Wade 10-9 Ryan Joyce
\nMichael van Gerwen 10-8 Scott Mitchell
\nGerwyn Price 10-5 Peter Hudson
\nRicky Evans 10- 7 Ian White
\nAlan Soutar 10-5 Stephen Bunting
\nBrendan Dolan 10-7 Kai Fan Leung
\nDave Chisnall 10-5 Peter Wright
\nRob Cross 10-8 Andy Hamilton
\nMartijn Kleermaker 10-8 Jamie Hughes
\nSimon Whitlock 10-7 Karel Sedlacek
\nKrzysztof Ratajski 10-5 Nathan Aspinall
\nDirk van Duijvenbode 10-9 Gary Anderson
\nDevon Petersen 10-5 Jeffrey De Zwaan
\nLuke Woodhouse 10-5 Dimitri Van den Bergh
\nPeter Jacques 10-9 Andy Boulton
\nMensur Suljovic 10-6 Sebastian Bialecki
\nGabriel Clemens 10-4 Adam Hunt
\nJos\u00e9 de Sousa 10-9 Mervyn King
\nRon Meulenkamp 10-7 Steve Lennon
\nMadars Razma 10-6 David Evans
\nScott Waites 10-6 Keegan Brown
\nChris Dobey 10-6 John Henderson
\nDanny Noppert 10-6 Glen Durrant
\nLuke Humphries 10-8 Kim Huybrechts<\/p>\n
\nAfternoon Session (1230 GMT start)
\nFifth Round
\nMain Stage<\/strong>
\nRob Cross v James Wade
\nGerwyn Price v Ricky Evans
\nMichael Smith v Jose de Sousa
\nMichael van Gerwen v Mensur Suljovic<\/p>\n
\nDarius Labanauskas v Simon Whitlock
\nDaryl Gurney v Gabriel Clemens
\nChris Dobey v John Brown
\nJonny Clayton v Dirk van Duijvenbode<\/p>\n
\nLuke Humphries v Ryan Searle
\nCallan Rydz v Martijn Kleermaker
\nAlan Soutar v Ron Meulenkamp
\nLuke Woodhouse v Brendan Dolan<\/p>\n
\nPeter Jacques v Max Hopp
\nScott Waites v Devon Petersen
\nKrzysztof Ratajski v Madars Razma
\nDave Chisnall v Danny Noppert<\/p>\n
\nSixth Round
\nMain Stage & Stage Two<\/p>\n
\nAfternoon Session (1245 GMT start)<\/strong>
\nQuarter-Finals
\nMain Stage<\/p>\n
\nSemi-Finals & Final
\nMain Stage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"