The City West Hotel opened its doors once again to commence the 2012 World Grand Prix of darts. One of the two Irishman made it into the second round whilst the fourth and fifth seeds exited at the first stage. There was a good win for Phil Taylor who looks to put his recent bad form behind him. Here's the round-up from the first day:
Mark Walsh 1-2 Robert Thornton: Last weekend's event winner, Thornton recovers to beat Special Brew. Walsh started the match with a 118-checkout before taking the opening set 3-1. The Scot then went a leg down in the second set but was arguably the better player. That soon came into account along with his prolific starting, he levelled the match by taking the second set 3-1. With momentum in his hand, Thornton took the next three legs to secure the whitewash in the third set to win the game 2-1.
Dean Winstanley 2-3 Dave Chisnall: The match was settled by a last leg decider, which Chisnall finally won after missing nine previous darts to win the game. Chizzy was unstoppable in the first set, taking it without dropping a leg. The second set saw Winstanley lead 2-1 before Chisnall then missed four darts to win the game, thus allowing Winstanley to take the set 3-2. The third and final set also went to that final leg with both players missing darts at the double, Chisnall missed five with Winstanley missing two before Chisnall finally wrapped it up.
Simon Whitlock 1-2 Justin Pipe: The European Champion exits the Grand Prix at the first stage courtesy of Pipe. After breaking the first leg, Whitlock found himself 2-1 down with Pipe finding a 112-checkout before taking the opening set via the opening leg. Whitlock was then a leg down in the second set before reeling the next three legs off to level the match despite winning a leg more overall. Pipe again took the first leg in the third set before Whitlock missed darts at the double to level the set and it hurt him deeply, he couldn't recover and allowed Pipe to win the third set 3-0 to take the game, his first win in a Grand Prix.
Terry Jenkins 1-2 Mervyn King: King comes from a set and two legs down to somehow progress into the second round. King did take the first leg of the night before Jenkins levelled with an exquisite 126-checkout, from that Jenkins took the opening set 3-1. The Bull looked to be in full control when he took the first two legs of the second set but King roared back to take the next three legs to force a third and final set. With momentum in hand, King would then take the first two legs in that final set before Jenkins dug deep to force a final leg. King would emerge victorious with a 66-checkout to dump out Jenkins and set up a second round match with Chisnall.
Gary Anderson 0-2 Brendan Dolan: Anderson's return to television ended rather prematurely at the hands of the home boy. Dolan did take the opening leg before finding himself 2-1 behind, but the Irishman regained composure to take the first set. Anderson fired a 106-checkout to level the second set at 1-1 and had to level it again after Dolan replied with an 81-finish on the bull. Dolan then stood firm with the partisan crowd behind him to take the deciding leg in the second set to progress through.
Phil Taylor 2-0 Michael Smith: The ten time Grand Prix Champion was business like in seeing off young debutante Smith. Smith kicked off with two 180s but still ended up losing the first leg before tying the set at 1-1. Taylor then surged through and took the opening set 3-1 with a 94-checkout on the bull. The exhibition stuff came out in the second set even whilst Smith continued to play well. A 167-checkout put Taylor 2-0 before Smith posted a last hoorah 113-finish. The game was then wrapped up with a 106-checkout to make it 3-1 in the second set and 2-0 overall, giving Taylor the chance to avenge his UK Open defeat against Robert Thornton.
Kevin Painter 2-0 Kim Huybrechts: Huybrechts' Grand Prix debut lasted all of six legs as he was well and truly whitewashed by an inspired Painter. The Artist quickly reeled off the six legs required to win, the highlight being an 84-checkout on the bull in the fifth leg, and set up a tie against Pipe in the second round.
Vincent Van Der Voort 2-1 William O'Connor: O'Connor fails set up an all Irish second round affair after a roller-coaster match against Van Der Voort. The Irishman started the much better and blew the Dutchman away 3-1 to claim the first set. O'Connor managed to find a 96-checkout via double-18 then double tops to level the second set at 1-1 before Van Der Voort dug in and made it one set apiece with a 3-1 set victory of his own. The Dutchman then looked like a guarantee to progress when he took a 2-0 lead in the third set. But O'Connor once again came back and found a 140-finish to set up another last leg decider. Unfortunately, O'Connor was slow to start which allowed Van Der Voort to get ahead and eventually take the set 3-2 to set up the second round tie against Dolan.
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