Nathan Aspinall survived a scare on the opening night of the Betfred World Matchplay as he kicked off his title defence with a 10-8 win over Luke Woodhouse in Blackpool on Saturday.
Aspinall’s reign was under threat as Woodhouse won back-to-back legs to draw level at 8-8 on his Winter Gardens debut.
However, Aspinall showed his trademark battling qualities to win the next two legs and preserve his champion status.
“I want to thank the crowd, there’s no way I would have won that game without the support they gave me tonight,” said Aspinall, who will meet Danny Noppert or James Wade in round two.
“It’s humbling to hear people singing your name, I’ve never experienced support like tonight; they carried me through it.
“It wasn’t a good performance; I tried everything, I left everything on that stage tonight to get the win.
“I shouldn’t really be playing at the moment with the state of my arm, but I want to defend my title.
“This is my last tournament before my treatment so I’m trying everything I can to go out with a bang before my break from the game.”
Top seed Luke Humphries laid down a marker with the highest World Matchplay average since 2021 in a 10-4 win over Ricardo Pietreczko.
Last year’s semi-finalist Humphries averaged 108.76 in a breathtaking display as the World Champion proved too strong for German debutant Pietreczko.
“I felt really good in the lead up to this tournament and I felt a million dollars tonight,” said Humphries.
“Since the World Cup I’ve got back into my old routine and have been practicing more.
“If I hadn’t played so well I would’ve lost because Ricardo was fantastic tonight.
“I’m embracing life as World Champion now and I’m just enjoying playing on the big stages.
“If I keep up this level then I stand a good chance of winning the tournament but I certainly won’t be getting carried away.”
Gerwyn Price kicked off the tournament with an emphatic 10-4 win over Daryl Gurney, averaging just shy of a ton to avoid an early exit.
Having led 5-2, Price was pegged back to 5-4 but after Gurney missed two darts to level, the Welshman won the first of a run of five straight legs to book his place in the last 16.
“The first game is always tough,” admitted 2022 runner-up Price. “I started well and finished well, so I’m happy with my performance tonight.
“I feel settled into the tournament now and I’m looking forward to Tuesday [versus Ross Smith or Josh Rock].
“This is one of the three TV ranking events I’ve been in the final of but never won, so I’m hungry to go one step further this time.”
Last year’s runner-up Jonny Clayton produced the tournament’s first 100+ average to dump out 2010 runner-up Raymond van Barneveld.
Clayton opened up a 7-3 lead before Van Barneveld reeled off a trio of legs to reduce the gap to one.
However, some trademark clinical finishing from Clayton saw Van Barneveld’s wait for a first World Matchplay win since 2018 continue.
“I love this stage, I felt good up there,” said Clayton. “I got over the line and I’m happy with that.
“Winning a Players Championship event last week was big for my confidence.
“Coming back here is difficult because of last year’s bad memories when my dad was seriously ill before he died, but I’ll keep soldiering on.”
The first round action at the Betfred World Matchplay continues across two sessions on Sunday.
Sunday’s afternoon session will see 2020 champion Dimitri Van den Bergh meet German number one Martin Schindler, as 2007 winner James Wade makes his 19th consecutive Blackpool appearance against Danny Noppert.
The evening session will be headlined by former champions Rob Cross and Peter Wright, who have been pitted against Dutch debutant Gian van Veen and former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding respectively.
The Betfred World Matchplay is broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
2024 Betfred World Matchplay
Saturday July 13
First Round x4
Gerwyn Price 10-4 Daryl Gurney
Jonny Clayton 10-7 Raymond van Barneveld
Luke Humphries 10-4 Ricardo Pietreczko
Nathan Aspinall 10-8 Luke Woodhouse
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