Michael van Gerwen recovered from losing the first set against Chas Barstow to reach the third round of the William Hill World Championship, where a defeated Darius Labanauskas landed the tournament\u2019s second nine-darter in as many days.<\/p>\n
Saturday’s action at the Alexandra Palace saw Van Gerwen begin his bid for a fourth World Championship crown with an up and down display but ultimately proved too strong for debutant Barstow.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman missed seven darts at doubles to take the opening set, which Barstow pinched with a brilliant 116 checkout.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen also lost the first leg in the second set but took it 3-1 by finishing 80 with his opponent waiting on a double.<\/p>\n
The world number three then made it six legs on the bounce to move a set ahead and take control of the contest, which he went on to wrap up with back-to-back 99 checkouts. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy with the win but not really with how I played, I have to do better in the next round and I\u2019ll do that,\u201d said van Gerwen, who hit six 180s in the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cChas played well in the beginning of the game but I made it too hard for myself by missing too many doubles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about getting through the first game. It\u2019s harder than people think, especially for the top players. I\u2019ve done that and I know I will feel more comfortable as the format get longer as the tournament goes on. I\u2019ve got to improve and I will.\u201d <\/p>\n
Labanauskas fired in the \u00a32.5m tournament’s second nine-dart finish in less than 24 hours but was unable to overcome Belgium’s Mike De Decker in their first round contest.<\/p>\n
The Lithuanian thrower won the opening set with his perfect leg, which he completed with a 147 checkout, hitting the 12th Ally Pally nine-darter the day after William Borland had produced the 11th in the last leg of his epic victory over Bradley Brooks. <\/p>\n
But Labanauskas was unable to enjoy his magical moment for long, winning just two of the next nine legs as De Decker progressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nine-darter was a special moment in my life but I couldn\u2019t relax after it,\u201d said Labanauskas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I thought about it for too long and couldn\u2019t find the focus I needed to win the match but well done to Mike, he deserved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Decker, a late replacement for South Africa\u2019s Charles Losper who was unable to travel due to visa issues, moves through to face Dave Chisnall in the next round. <\/p>\n
Ian White enjoyed a 3-1 triumph over Dutchman Chris Landman to reach the third round for the first time since the 2017\/18 staging of the sport\u2019s showpiece event. <\/p>\n
The first two sets went White\u2019s way but Landman, who had stunned Scott Mitchell in the opening round, halved the deficit by clinching set three.<\/p>\n
White, however, raced through the fourth set to complete the win and set up a last 32 meeting with Gary Anderson. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy with my performance and relieved to get through after how it\u2019s gone the last few years,\u201d said White, after winning his first World Championship match in four years. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat first game is always difficult to get through. I\u2019ve put in some good averages in the last couple of years and lost so I didn\u2019t care about the average this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I wanted to do was win. I\u2019ve managed that and I\u2019m looking forward to a good game against Gary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowby-John Rodriguez dropped just a single leg in a straight sets demolition of Welshman Nick Kenny.<\/p>\n
Austrian ace Rodriguez posted an average of 97.5 \u2013 the second highest of this year\u2019s event so far – and hit three 180s as he brushed aside a struggling Kenny to reach the second round. <\/p>\n
Rodriguez, who reached the World Cup of Darts final earlier this year, won the first five legs and then the last four to storm to glory, setting up a last 32 clash with Luke Humphries. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt good all day and all game,\u201d said Rodriguez, whose brother Rusty-Jake will make his World Championship debut on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll year long I have felt confident. I haven\u2019t felt pressure because I lost my Tour Card and it turned into the best season of my career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just tried to play my game and I am having fun playing darts again, which I think is really important. Rusty and I are doing are doing our own thing but we will support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Callan Rydz eased to a straight sets victory over Japan\u2019s Yuki Yamada to move into the second round for the third successive year.<\/p>\n
From 2-2 in the opening set, Rydz reeled off seven legs on the spin to close out a comfortable victory. <\/p>\n
The 2021 World Matchplay quarter-finalist, who has enjoyed a breakthrough 12 months by winning two Players Championship titles, landed six 180s on the way to setting up a round two tie against Brendan Dolan. <\/p>\n
Raymond Smith claimed his first World Championship victory to leave Jamie Hughes still without a win at Alexandra Palace. <\/p>\n
Australian qualifier Smith, whose son, Ky, is in action on Sunday afternoon, won an entertaining encounter to kick off Saturday\u2019s action.<\/p>\n
Smith won the first set in a deciding leg by taking out 100 for a 12-darter, before doubling his lead despite a second ton-plus checkout from Hughes.<\/p>\n
Former Czech Darts Open winner Hughes added a 115 finish as he pulled a set back, but Smith went on to secure a 3-1 success to set up a second round meeting with Devon Petersen. <\/p>\n
Jim Williams completed a routine win on his Ally Pally debut as the Welshman defeated Ted Evetts by three sets to one. <\/p>\n
UK Challenge Tour Order of Merit winner Williams, who will join the PDC ProTour circuit next year, took advantage of 22 missed doubles by his opponent.<\/p>\n
Evetts, the recently-crowned World Youth Champion, lost the first five legs of the match resulting in a two-set deficit which he was unable to overturn \u2013 despite racing through the third set to halve the deficit. <\/p>\n
Williams finished the job in set four, however, setting up a third round tie against Joe Cullen, with Evetts suffering a defeat on the Alexandra Palace stage two years and a day after his famous loss to Fallon Sherrock. <\/p>\n
Adam Hunt enjoyed a straight sets victory over Croatia\u2019s Boris Krcmar to reach round two for the second year in a row. <\/p>\n
Hunt punished his opponent for missed darts at doubles throughout the match to set up a meeting with Vincent van der Voort. <\/p>\n
The action continues on Sunday with six first round matches and two second round ties across two sessions, as the ‘Queen of the Palace’ makes her return to the World Championship when Sherrock takes on veteran star Steve Beaton in the evening.<\/p>\n
The tournament is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and RTL7, and on PDCTV (excluding UK and Netherlands based subscribers).<\/p>\n
2021\/22 William Hill World Darts Championship Evening Session (1900 GMT) Sunday December 19 Evening Session (1900 GMT) Michael van Gerwen recovered from losing the first set against Chas Barstow to reach the third round of the William…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[943,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-results"],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":4178,"de":4182},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178"}],"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=4178"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4184,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4178\/revisions\/4184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc2.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSchedule of Play
\nSaturday December 18
\nAfternoon Session (1230 GMT)
\n3x First Round, 1x Second Round<\/strong>
\nRaymond Smith 3-1 Jamie Hughes (R1)
\nCallan Rydz 3-0 Yuki Yamada (R1)
\nMike De Decker 3-1 Darius Labanauskas (R1)
\nIan White 3-1 Chris Landman (R2)<\/p>\n
\n3x First Round, 1x Second Round<\/strong>
\nAdam Hunt 3-0 Boris Krcmar (R1)
\nJim Williams 3-1 Ted Evetts (R1)
\nRowby-John Rodriguez 3-0 Nick Kenny (R1)
\nMichael van Gerwen 3-1 Chas Barstow (R2)<\/p>\n
\nAfternoon Session (1230 GMT)
\n3x First Round, 1x Second Round<\/strong>
\nMaik Kuivenhoven – Ky Smith (R1)
\nJason Heaver – Gordon Mathers** (R1)
\nAlan Soutar – Diogo Portela (R1)
\nStephen Bunting – Ross Smith (R2)<\/p>\n
\n3x First Round, 1x Second Round<\/strong>
\nMartijn Kleermaker – John Michael (R1)
\nFlorian Hempel – Martin Schindler (R1)
\nSteve Beaton – Fallon Sherrock (R1)
\nJonny Clayton – Keane Barry (R2)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"