The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsA couple of big names crashed out of the World Grand Prix in an eventful day one in Dublin. Raymond van Barneveld and Peter Wright were both casualties on the first day at the Citywest. Here is how the day’s action unfolded as every much but one went to a final set decider.
Welshman Jamie Lewis hit a nine-darter in the Dublin ProTour leading up to the main event, and continued his good run of form here at he beat home favourite William O’Connor in the first match of the tournament winning the match in a last-leg decider.
Mark Webster grabbed one of the last two ProTour qualifying spots at Barnsley last week to secure his place here, and claimed a scalp in his first round match against Stephen Bunting, who wasn’t quite on his game when hitting the double to start the legs as Webster secured a 2-1 sets win.
Kim Huybrechts won his first ever set to the World Grand Prix in his first round tie against Benito van de Pas and then went on to win his first ever match at the double-start tournament. ‘Big Ben’ took the first set against the Premier League star but the Belgian battled back to book his ticket into the next round in Dublin.
Michael Smith came through a nervy encounter against Gerwyn Price, who looked like winning the match for large parts. Price missed key doubles at key times as he passed up the chance to repeat his World Matchplay win over ‘Bullyboy’. ‘Ice Man’ never got off the mark in the final leg allowing Smith to hit D14 for the match.
Peter Wright had four match darts to knock out his Premier League rival Dave Chisnall, but squandered all of these, including three in a last-leg decider. These misses proved to be extremely costly as ‘Chizzy’ stepped to ensure he appears in the second round stage and knock out the number four seed.
Michael van Gerwen took the first set 3-0 in his match against Keegan Brown, but then his concentration was not kept as he allowed the Youth Champion to win the second set and force a third and deciding set. It was then that ‘The Green Machine’ roared into life again, winning the match 2-1 in sets.
Raymond van Barneveld faces another slip further down the rankings after another first round defeat at a major, this time losing out to Adrian Lewis. The Dutchman averaged a dismal 77 as ‘Jackpot’ stamped his authority on the match by winning the first set as ‘Barney’ missed eighteen darts at double in the first leg. The two-time World Champion went on to take the second set for a straight sets victory over a struggling Raymond van Barneveld.
Jelle Klaasen won a ProTour event in Barnsley last week, and continued his good run of form to knock out ‘The History Maker’ in front of his home crowd in Dublin. The Northern Ireland ace Dolan took the first set but saw Klaasen make a fightback to rode a deciding set, which the Dutchman won to move into the second round of the competition.
World Grand Prix- Day One Results
Round One
William O’Connor 1-2 Jamie Lewis
Mark Webster 2-1 Stephen Bunting
Kim Huybrechts 2-1 Benito van de Pas
Michael Smith 2-1 Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright 1-2 Dave Chisnall
Michael van Gerwen 2-1 Keegan Brown
Adrian Lewis 2-0 Raymond van Barneveld
Jelle Klaasen 2-1 Brendan Dolan
