Newton Grows Into Next Round, Winstanley Recovers to Win in Tie-Break

Sixth seed Wes Newton books his place into the second round after victory over Johnny Haines. It was a slow start for Newton and Haines instantly broke the throw with a 95-checkout via 25 then bull. The first four legs actually went against the throw before Newton finally held to take the first set.

From there, Newton gradually improved and took the second set after being 2-0 ahead. The Warrior then went one better in the third set; winning it without conceding a leg to progress whilst, like many, growing into the tournament.

Dean Winstanley had to grow pretty quickly in his match against Mervyn King which proved to be the longest match so far in the first round. After four flawless legs with throw, Winstanley managed to break King and win the opening set.

Winstanley took the opening leg of the second set with a 106-checkout and went a leg away from making it 2-0 before King fought back to win the set via another deciding leg. That looked to give him full momentum as he powered through the third set without conceding and winning it with a 140-checkout.

But Winstanley wasn't finished and it was his turn to retaliate with a 3-1 fourth set victory to set up a tantalising deciding set. A 102-checkout from King put him 2-0 ahead and just a leg away from victory. But King couldn't complete the job and Winstanley would force the tie-break by levelling the set at 2-2. It then became advantage Winstanley as he took a 3-2 lead but this time King was the one to battle back, putting him in a winning position with a 4-3 lead. If it got to 5-5 the pair would have had to have played a sudden death leg, but Winstanley won the following three legs to finally win the set 6-4 and squeeze into the last-32.

There was no such drama for Steve Beaton who saw off Australia’s Kyle Anderson in straight sets. It wasn't as easy as the scoreline suggests and Anderson went 2-1 ahead in the first set before Beaton turned it around to take the set.

It was the same story in the second set as Anderson once again put himself a leg away from levelling the match. But again Beaton fought back to take the set with the deciding leg. This seemed to break Anderson as Beaton took the third set without conceding to stroll through.

As with the previous preliminary qualifiers, the standard was extremely high and Colin Osborne was the latest seed to be pushed by one. Philippines’ Lourence Ilagan faced Wales’ Jamie Lewis in the qualifier and Lewis began the match with a 118-checkout. Lewis then went 3-1 ahead before Ilagan prevented defeat with an impressive 121-checkout. That proved to be the pivotal moment as Ilagan took the next two legs to win the match 4-3 and book his spot against Osborne.

The Filipino continued from where he left off as well as he took the opening leg of the match. But Osborne recovered to take the opening set 3-1. Ilagan responded and went a dart away from winning the second set without conceding, however a 164-checkout from Osborne broke the spirit and changed the set. That was followed by a 106-checkout before Osborne wrapped the set up in the deciding leg. This heartbreak still didn't deter Ilagan and he went 2-1 up in the third set. But Osborne again found a pivotal ton checkout to force another deciding leg which he again won to also place himself into the second round.