First Round Concludes

The final first round matches started with World Championship debutant Scott Rand secured the second total whitewash of the tournament against Andy Smith. The Pie Man couldn't find any darts to trouble the lorry driver and will now have to watch Rand in the second round at his expense.

The preliminary match of the night saw Portugal's Jose De Sousa take on South Africa's Devon Petersen. The match was level at 3-3 before Petersen won the deciding leg and gets the chance to face Steve Brown in the first round proper.

It was the battle of the Johns in the third match as Canadian Part faced Scotland's Henderson. Part came out on top as he won the first set 3-1. He followed that up with a 3-0 second set victory before wrapping the match up with 3-1 third set victory. Part will now face Richie Burnett in the second round.

The penultimate match of the night was the battle of the ponytails as Australia's Simon Whitlock took on Dennis Smith. Whitlock's participation in the tournament was hampered by his broken ankle but it didn't hamper his game as soared into a 2-0 set lead. He started the third set with a 125 checkout and went onto win it 3-0, losing only one leg throughout the match and averaging 105.

The final match of the night saw a dream ticket to get into the second round as South African qualifier Devon Petersen took on the Bristol Bomber, Scott Brown. Brown took full control by taking the first set 3-0. The second set was a stark contrast as it went to the decider which Petersen won 3-2. The third set also went the distance, Brown won it via a 130 checkout on the bull. But Petersen came back again and won the fourth set 3-1 to set up a final set. The final set looked to be Brown's after he took a 2-0 lead, but Petersen fought back to 2-2 to force a tie-break situation. That was where the South African took the lead for the first time in the match and ended up winning it 4-2 to be the second preliminary winner to go through to the second round.