The Winter Gardens in Blackpool opened its doors once again for the week as the 2013 World Matchplay Darts began in full swing. There were wins for the five time World Champion, Raymond Van Barneveld, who is yet to win in Blackpool. The 2007 Champion, James Wade, also made it through along with The Bull Terry Jenkins. The European Darts Championship runner-up Simon Whitlock also won after fending off a Jelle Klaasen comeback.
Jenkins ended up progressing comfortably past Andy Smith. It didn't start that way as The Pie Man rattled off a 116-checkout before going 2-0 in front. Jenkins did manage to battle back to still went off at the first break 3-2 behind as Smith managed to hit a 101-checkout. But that would be the last leg Smith would win as Jenkins managed to reel off seven consecutive legs, with a little help from Smith missing doubles when Jenkins did, to win the match 10-7.
It was a similar story for Van Barneveld as he made Mensur Suljovic's World Matchplay debut a nightmare. It was a good start for the Austrian as he levelled the match with a brilliant 120-Shanghai finish before then going 2-1 in front. But Barney would reply with a 101-checkout to leave the stage 3-2 in front at the first break. The Dutchman would then take the following four legs, including an 81-checkout on the bull, before Suljovic made it 7-3 at the second break. Suljovic would also win the first leg of the third session only for Barney to prevent any type of comeback with a 121-checkout, again on the bull. The Dutchman would then wrap the game up with the following two legs to win 10-4.
The first real contest was between Wade and John Part. After Wade missed three darts to level the match, Part took a 2-0 lead. Wade did fight back to level but would still leave the stage 3-2 down after the first interval. Wade was guilty of missing another three darts in leg seven which allowed Part to hit a 104-checkout to go 4-3 in front. Wade responded with a 110-checkout before taking the following two legs to end the second session 6-4 ahead. The Machine did manage to extend that to 8-5 before Part pulled it back to 8-7. That became 9-8 and the 18th leg turned out to be a rather tense one. But Wade emerged with a 24-checkout to win 10-8 and progress without really being at his best on the doubles in parts of the game.
Whitlock was the third man to go 2-0 ahead only for Klaasen to level the match. Klaasen again levelled to make it 3-3 before Whitlock went on to win the next five legs and go 8-3 in front. Klaasen wasn't really anywhere for most of the match but he did summon up two consecutive legs to make it 8-5. Whitlock went within a leg of the match and then went on to miss two match darts, allowing Klaasen to make it 9-6. Out of nowhere, The Dutchman somehow hit a magnificent 158-checkout followed by a 118-finish to make it 9-8. With fears of becoming the victim of yet another Blackpool comeback, Whitlock managed to compose himself and take the next leg to win 10-8.
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