Saturday 15 December 2012

Taylor Struggles Through, Part and Chisnall Progress

Phil Taylor progresses into the second round of the World Championships with a very below par performance against Northern Ireland's Michael Mansell. Mansell did level the opening set before the Power took it 3-1. If Mansell was a better player, Taylor could have been in real trouble but he was still able to take the second set without conceding. Taylor completed the job in the third set with again not conceding a leg. Taylor will now face the young prospect, Jerry Hendriks in the next round.

Dave Chisnall also wasn't at his best despite beating Australia's Shane Tichowitsch in straight sets. The first four legs went against the throw before Chisnall took the opening set in the deciding leg. The second followed suite with Chisnall again winning the set in the final leg, putting him a set away from victory. Tichowitsch's resilience faded in the third set and Chizzy took it 3-1 to win the match and progress through.

John Part made a statement against Joe Cullen after his outrage in the normally formed Muralgate. The Canadian expressed his offence at not having his mural up in Ally Pally despite being a double World Champion. Darth Maple took the final two legs of the opening set to win it before beginning the second set with an impressive 127-checkout. Cullen did fight back to force a deciding leg that Part would win to put himself just one set away. Part would then seal the third set with a 108-checkout to win it 3-1 and book his place against Terry Jenkins.

16-year old Max Hopp from Germany almost put himself into the second round but couldn't quite finish the job. His night began with the preliminary match against South Africa's Charl Pietersen. Hopp took the first two legs of the match before coming out a 4-1 winner.

The victory meant he had a shot at the veteran Denis Ovens in the second round. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ovens started the match slowly although Hopp did have to wait until the deciding leg to win the first set. Ovens retaliated and levelled the match by winning the fifth and final leg of the second set.

Hopp began to shock the darting world by placing himself just a set away from victory after winning the third set 2-1. But the German seemed to lose all of his steam as Ovens forced a deciding set after taking the fourth set without conceding. The fifth set was also not contested as Ovens again took it 3-0 to book his place into the second round.

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