Sydney Darts Masters: Day One Review

There wasn’t a shock in sight on the first night of the Sydney Darts Masters as all of the seeds booked their places in the second round, which takes place on Friday. Here is your day one review.

Raymond van Barneveld picked up his first ever win in the Sydney Darts Masters after beating Cody Harris 6-3. The Dutchman raced into a 5-1 lead to calm any nerves that he may exit in Sydney at the first round for the third time, and went on to close out the match to book his place in the next round.

Stephen Bunting secured his place in the second round of the Sydney Darts Masters with a convincing win over David Platt. ‘The Bullet’ was clinical throughout, averaging 99 and 60% on the doubles in a 6-1 win for the number eight seed.

James Wade made the final in Perth where he was beaten by Phil Taylor, and he will be looking to go one better here and win the Sydney Darts Masters. He started his title quest with a solid 6-2 win over Craig Caldwell.

In the three World Series events so far this season, Gary Anderson has made the semi-finals in all of them, and will be determined to make it further this time in Sydney. Although not too happy with his performance, ‘The Flying Scotsman’ whitewashed Warren Parry to book his ticket to Friday and the second round.

Peter Wright was next to progress to the second round, beating Loz Ryder 6-3. The Oceanic representative battled hard in the first few legs, but ‘Snakebite’ produced a series on 100+ checkouts to move on into the second round.

Phil Taylor maintained his unbeaten record in Australian World Series events to beat Tic Bridge 6-2. Bridge had a chance to level up at 3-3, but missed S16 for a dart at D20. The sixteen-time World Champion went onto win the match 6-2, taking out 127 in the final leg on the bull.

Adrian Lewis came from behind to win a dramatic match against Australian number one Simon Whitlock. ‘The Wizard’ raced into a 4-1 lead, but Lewis won four straight legs to move 5-4 up. Whitlock forced a decider in front of his home crowd, but Lewis took the match 6-5.

There were certainly positives to take for Paul Nicholson as he lost to Michael van Gerwen in the final match of the evening as the World number one marched into the next round with a 6-2 win.