Scotland, Austria and Philippines Join the Darts

With the first afternoon session of the Darts World Championships taking place on the third day of the tournament. We saw three more countries represented in this year's event. The opening match of the day saw Scotland's Peter Wright take on Holland's Jelle Klaasen who won the Lakeside Championship in 2006. The first to sets saw Wright scoring well but not being able to finish whereas Klaasen wasn't scoring consistently but finishing well. This left Klaasen 2-0 ahead with Wright failing to win a leg. Wright found his doubles in the third set and won it 3-1 with the third fourth set on his throw. The first two legs of the set went with throw before Klaasen secured a crucial break of throw which enabled him to win the set 3-1 and win the match by the same scoreline.

The preliminary match of the afternoon was between Austria's Dietmar Burger and Philippine's Christian Perez. Perez took the first leg against the throw with a checkout of 110. Burger didn't particularly turn up and Perez took the 4-0 whitewash to face Alan Tabern in the first round.

Ronnie Baxter faced Steve Farmer in the third match of the afternoon. Baxter didn't turn up for the first set and lost it 3-0. Farmer then missed seven darts to take the second set and Baxter recovered to take it 3-2 and equalise. The first four legs of the third set went against throw before Baxter held to take the set 3-2 and take the lead for the first time. Farmer found his scoring in the fourth set but missed six darts to win it, fortunately Baxter couldn't take advantage and Farmer secured double three to win it 3-1 to equalise. Baxter couldn't recover in the final set and Farmer secured the upset with a 3-2 victory.

The penultimate match of the afternoon was between Scotland's Robert Thornton and Ian White. The first set went with throw, Thornton winning it 3-2. Both players missed darts at the double in the second set but White managed to win it 3-1 to equalise. The third set again went with throw to give Thornton a 2-1 lead after winning the deciding leg. The fourth set also went to a decider after Thornton recovered from two legs down. The Scot again won the deciding leg, finishing with a bull to checkout 81 to go through to meet Adrian Lewis in the next round.

The final match of the session was Tabern versus Perez. Unsurprisingly, Tabern took the first set but Perez had levelled it at 1-1 before Tabern won 3-1 to take the lead. Perez took the first leg in the second set but Tabern took it 3-1 to double his advantage. Tabern checked out 149 to kick off the third set but Perez came back to win the set 3-1. The fourth set went to a decider, Perez missed two darts at the double before Tabern checked out 127 with the bull to progress.