evoked memories of the Dutchman’s Winter Gardens nine-darter,
which had come against the same opponent two years earlier, and
whilst those dizzying heights were never quite reached the match was
still of a high standard.
James Wade was another man in form coming in to the tournament and
it showed as he made light work of defeating Andy Smith 10-5 to claim
a spot in the second round.
Wade was soon joined by Dave Chisnall who posted a great display to
see off the challenge of Dean Winstanley. Chisnall was coming in to the
tournament off the back of a solid Premier League debut campaign and
the extra TV experience told as the St Helens thrower powered away
with a 10-4 victory.
Brendan Dolan was unable to recapture his form from the recent World
Cup of Darts and in truth he was blown away by Richie Burnett, the
Prince of Wales coming away with a 10-4 win, a scoreline which was
only bettered by Andy Hamilton who defeated a well below par Wayne
Jones 10-3.
Wes Newton and Ronnie Baxter dragged each other down somewhat as
the duo both struggled in front of a home crowd.
Baxter had the early advantage, but Newton dug deep to level and
eventually found a 144 checkout to take the match 11-9 after extra
legs were required to separate the pair.
Mervyn King had what looked like a tough draw in the form of Kim
Huybrechts but in the event the match proved to be somewhat more
one-sided than fans would have expected. King took a 10-4 victory
to head through to the second round where he was joined by Gary
Anderson who came through against Jamie Caven in one of the higher
class matches of the opening round.
Caven landed a 100+ finish to break throw early on, only for Anderson
to respond with a big checkout of his own and when the Scotsman
found another 100+ out in the fifteenth leg it proved to be decisive as
he went on to complete a 10-8 victory.
Andrew Gilding will have been hoping for a better World Matchplay
debut than he in fact had. The Sussex-based thrower was facing Adrian
Lewis in what looked like a tough match, but few expected the 10-0
whitewash that ensued as Lewis progressed safely through to the
second round.
Second Round
Phil Taylor had predicted a nine-darter in his match with Michael Smith
and he didn’t disappoint. The perfect leg was only a part of a near
perfect display that saw The Power emerge with a 13-6 victory as he
laid down the law to the man who had ended his World Championship
run a little over six months earlier.