The opening of the PDC World Championships saw a youngster shine, a Scotsmen do the business, an Aussie veteran use all his experience to survive
The opening match saw Kevin Doets open tournament with a 180. He cleaned up the first set only dropping a leg before doing the same in the second set. The third set went to a decider but he held his nerve against American Stowe Buntz to win the match by three sets to nil and win another match the same evening against reigning World Champion Michael Smith.
The second match saw Cameron Menzies secure what looked a comfortable three set win, and certainly after the first set went three nil it looked that way but the final two sets were much tighter with both going to deciding legs. The second set in particular could have gone Rusty Jake Rodriguez’s way but he spurned two set darts. Despite missing double 12 and double 6 in the deciding leg of the third set Menzies threw double three with last dart in hand to win a match against Dave Chisnall in Saturday’s afternoon session when DPA Champion Darren Penhall will be playing in the match prior.
The third match was a tight affair and Simon Whitlock had to use all his experience to come away with a 3-2 win. A 112 check out in the opening leg set the early tempo for Paolo Nebrida and he was quick to pounce on Whitlock’s nervous start and won it 3-0. That was on throw and each player held throw in the second set for Whitlock to come away with a 3-2 lead, leaving his opponent stranded on 32 for the set himself. The third set saw Whitlock break the Nebrida throw in a leg both players failed with multiple chances. Both players then held throw and in the fourth leg Nebrida and Whitlock again spurned many chances until Whitlock finally secured the leg and a 2-3 set lead. It looked like he would clean up but his opponent had other ideas. He came out and broke the Whitlock throw before holding throw on his own. A comfortable leg from Whitlock looked to have turned things around but Nebrida was on throw and checked out 52 to move the match to a deciding set. That set opened with a hold of throw to Nebrida before a double one saved Whitlock from falling two legs behind. Nebrida then lost his throw and Whitlock stepped up to try and hold throw for the match. He spurned multiple chances to win the leg, but Nebrida found double nine a bridge to far as well and finally Whitlock secured the longest of legs to avoid a last leg shoot out with Nebrida throwing first, thus winning the final set three legs to one and the match three sets to two.
The final match of the night looked all Michael Smith early as he took the first set 3-1. Kevin Doets was not letting the World Champion have it all his own way, however, and Smith lost the set to a double five, acknowledging the Dutchman with a fist pump on the way off the stage. That was not the end of the heroics, however, as Doets held all three of his throws in the next set to win 3-2 with a double 16. Smith opened the next set with 180 and held throw before breaking the throw of Doets. Doets then collected double five to win the third leg but missed double 16 for the fourth leg and tops gave Smith a 3-1 fourth set win. Doets was not going to give up but Smith broke his heart with a 142 check out when the Dutchman needed just double 12 to hold throw. Smith then held throw before spurning multiple match darts in the third leg. He did not give his opponent the same chances in the next leg and checked out 67 for a 3-1 set win and the match win three sets to two.
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