Coverage continues on Sky Sports Darts from 12.30pm with a second session live from 7pm, featuring Gerwyn Price and Dave Chisnall
Thursday 19 December 2019 11:58, UK
James Wade avoided becoming the latest high-profile exit at the World Darts Championship, starting his quest for a first world title with a win over Ritchie Edhouse.
At a tournament that has already seen last year's runner-up, the 2018 champion, the world No 9 and the five-time world champion eliminated, multiple major winner Wade had no such trouble with a 3-0 victory that required the minimum of fuss.
Michael Smith, Rob Cross, Ian White and Raymond van Barneveld all crashed out over the weekend, while Fallon Sherrock's landmark victory over Ted Evetts was still causing headlines 24 hours later, but Wade moved serenely through.
A possible quarter-final looms with Michael van Gerwen but first it will be the winner of Kyle Anderson and Steve Beaton for The Machine, who produced a typical Wade performance.
The 36-year-old is a three-time World Championship semi-finalist but has not reached the last four since 2013, however, he was never in too much trouble against Edhouse, who averaged more than his opponent but struggled with his finishing.
In contrast, Wade took out six of his 14 darts at a double, edged the first and third sets 3-2 and got the job done against Edhouse, who can be pleased with his debut having won his first-round match against Boris Koltsov.
Former BDO world champion and 17th seed Stephen Bunting is through to the third round of the 2020 PDC World Championship, after a hard-fought win over Jose Justicia.
After dropping the opening set, Bunting clawed it back to 1-1. The Joker led 2-0 in the third, but the former Premier League star showed his mettle to fight back and take a 2-1 lead. Nonetheless, the Spaniard wasn't giving up, and brought it to a deciding set.
Bunting found another gear by taking the first two legs in the fifth, but once again Justicia came roaring back. As the game seemed to be hurtling towards a final-leg shootout, the St Helens man broke throw with a 14-darter to win the final set 6-4.
The 34-year-old has secured his first win at the Ally Pally since 2016, and is through to the last 32 where he will face the winner of the Jonny Clayton, Ryan Joyce and Jan Dekker section, with a potential fourth-round clash against Michael van Gerwen looming.
Ron Meulenkamp and Seigo Asada chalked up comfortable 3-0 victories in the afternoon. Dutch star Meulenkamp had too much for Ben Robb, overwhelming the Kiwi and throwing four 180s in the process. Japan's Asada used his impressing finishing as a springboard for a straightforward victory over Mickey Mansell. The Ninja was deadly on doubles, hitting 9/13 as he secured a second-round meeting with Keegan Brown.
The day's other high-profile winner was Benito van de Pas. The Dutchman survived a missed match dart from Gabriel Clemens to advance to the second round where another German, 24th-seed Max Hopp, awaits.
Josh Payne, Nico Kurz and Harry Ward underlined their blossoming talents with hugely impressive victories.
In the afternoon, Harry Ward was cheered to a 3-2 victory over Madars Razma at a lively Ally Pally. 'Big H' trailed 2-1 in sets, but staged a comeback which set up a second-round meeting with Simon Whitlock.
Germany's Kurz showed few nerves on his World Championship debut, kicking off the evening session and piling up an average in excess of 95 on his way to a 3-1 win over world No 35 James Wilson.
Kurz, 22, beat Gary Anderson on his TV debut earlier this year and was in dazzling form against an out-of-sorts Wilson to set up a second-round date with Joe Cullen.
The 15th seed will do well to be wary of the young German who came as close as anyone in the tournament so far to pinning a nine-darter - just pulling his dart at double 12 in the first leg of the third set for the perfect leg.
Payne then went one better, sweeping to a 3-0 win over Brazil's Diogo Portela, who hit two of the three darts he was given at a double but the chances were few and far between as the Englishman was in ruthless form.
The Gravesend thrower, who won his first World Championship match last year, averaged 98 in a second-round defeat to Dave Chisnall and while he didn't hit those heights, a 96.49 average and 45 per cent check-out rate was enough to account for Portela.
Payne will next face Dimitri Van den Bergh in a section of the draw that has opened up following the surprise exit of Michael Smith.
The in-form pair of Gerwyn Price and Dave Chisnall are the headline acts on another bumper darting day. The pair have enjoyed impressive seasons, with Price claiming the Grand Slam of Darts and rising to third in the world rankings, while Chizzy reached the final of the Grand Prix in an incredibly consistent year.
Price takes on Willie O'Connor in the final match of the day after Dave Chisnall and Vincent van der Voort meet in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it clash.
The afternoon session, which features Steve Beaton in his 29th consecutive World Championship, looks like a battle of the walk-on's as John Henderson and 'Rocking all over the World' and James Richardson and 'Vindaloo' go head-to-head.
Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. The action is on Sky Sports Darts with live coverage from Alexandra Palace until the final on New Year's Day.
