Fifth seed Simon Whitlock books his place in the second
round after victory over Japan’s Haruki Muramatsu. Muramatsu began the night in
the preliminary round against New Zealand’s Dave Harrington, but the Japanese
had no problem in dispatching the Kiwi 4-0 with a 116-checkout in the third
leg.
Muramatsu was never going to be the favourite against
Whitlock, but he did put in a decent performance. Whitlock began the match
slowly but took the first set 3-1 after initially conceding the opening leg.
Muramatsu won a second leg to level the second set at 1-1, but a 116-checkout
from the Australian won the set 3-1 and put him within touching distance of the
next round. Muramatsu would also take the opening leg of the third set before
Whitlock once again won the set 3-1 to cruise into the next round.
In a rematch from the first round last year, Colin Lloyd
faced America’s Darin Young. Last year, Lloyd won it 3-1 after losing the
opening set. It began to look like déjà vu when Young started the match with a
101-checkout before taking the set 3-1 with an impressive 144-checkout.
Young took full advantage of Lloyd’s awful start to the
match by taking a 2-0 lead in the second set. But Jaws finally woke up and
would manage to level the set with a 114-checkout before levelling the match in
the deciding leg. Lloyd had to level the set again to force a deciding leg in
the third set, but this time Young would win it to go 2-1 in front.
Out of nowhere, Lloyd kicked up a gear and stormed the
fourth set 3-0, winning it with a 124-checkout to again level the match and
force a tense deciding set. Despite
being the nerviest part of the match, the fifth and final set saw the best
darts from both players and Lloyd quickly took a 2-0 lead. This time it was
Young to find a comeback and level the set to force a tie-break. A 115-checkout
from the American levelled the set at 3-3 before he held his throw to take the
lead. Lloyd also held his throw to make it 4-4 and then managed to take the
following two legs to squeeze into the second round, where he will meet Mark
Webster.
Justin Pipe strolled into the second round with a straight
sets victory over Andy Jenkins. Jenkins was extremely underwhelming and was in
danger of not winning a single leg. Pipe hit a 116-checkout in the fourth leg
before taking the second set with a leg score of 6-0. Jenkins managed to wake
up to take a 2-1 lead in the third set before Pipe fought back to win it and
progress.
Ronnie Baxter also made it into the second round to face
Kevin Painter after winning a battle of experience against Dennis Priestley.
Baxter managed to take the opening set in four legs after initially going 2-0
ahead. Priestley went 2-1 ahead in the second set, only to see Baxter fight
back and win the deciding leg to double his advantage. It was déjà vu in the
third set as Baxter once again had to force a deciding leg. The Rocket then
missed six darts to win the match as Priestley pushed in into a fourth set.
With momentum in his court, Priestley would take a 2-0 lead in that set and
would go onto miss three darts to level the match as Baxter forced another
deciding leg. It would be a deciding leg that the man from Blackpool would win
to go through with a 3-1 victory.
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