Michael van Gerwen starts World Matchplay title defence with win

Michael van Gerwen convincingly beat Stephen Bunting 10-4 to get his World Matchplay title defence off to the perfect start.

Van Gerwen stormed into a 7-0 lead before Bunting rallied late on as the two-time champion began to struggle with his doubles but the Dutchman had plenty in the tank to finish the match off and set up a second-round clash with Simon Whitlock.

Bunting missed three darts at double eight to hold his throw in the second leg and was punished immediately by the reigning champion as the tone was firmly set for the game. The world No 1 was in his usual imperious form and broke again before the Bullet couldn't take an opportunity for a break back leaving Van Gerwen 5-0 up and cruising going into the first break.

The man from Liverpool, who has been struggling for confidence in 2017, missed further darts to get himself on the board in the sixth leg and Van Gerwen was merciless as he piled on the misery to make it 7-0.

Bunting stuck at it and avoided a whitewash as he took out double two in the eighth leg as the Blackpool crowd spurred him on. The former Lakeside champion then took out 102 to get another leg on the board and then broke the Dutchman, who missed nine darts at a double. Van Gerwen continued to struggle on his doubles towards the end of the match but finished with a flourish as he took out 160 to take the win.

Adrian Lewis returned to action after a month out following an operation on his spine to beat Steve Beaton 10-7. Both players were frustrated with their form in the early exchanges before Lewis produced a moment of quality, taking out 110 to hold throw and back up his break in the previous leg to take a 3-1 lead.

Beaton fought back after the break as the standard rose and it was level pegging at 5-5 going into the second break of the tie. Jackpot broke immediately after the break and continued to hold throw before breaking again, taking out 81 to seal victory and set up a clash with Rob Cross.

In the battle of the two Australians, it was Simon Whitlock who came out on top as he beat Kyle Anderson 10-5 to progress to the second round. It was the first televised clash between the two and the Wizard went into a 4-1 lead after some clinical finishing early on.

The former world No 4 enjoyed great success on double tops throughout and was only broken once in the clash, going through comfortably in the end.

Debutant Rob Cross caused an upset by putting out the seeded Ian White following a 10-7 win. The pair couldn't be separated in the early stages as both players held their throw but Cross finally broke the throw in the eighth leg to take the upper hand.

Just as it looked like Cross was closing out the win, White broke back in the fifteenth leg as the world No 26 faltered on his doubles. However, the former electrician bounced back straight away to break and held his nerve to complete a dream debut.

Watch all the action from the World Matchplay Darts at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool from 7pm on Sky Sports Action on Tuesday night, or watch for £6.99 without a contract on NOW TV. The arrows run right through until the final on Sunday, July 30.

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