Nico Kurz and Max Hopp keep German flag flying; Ricky Evans to face MVG next. Coverage continues on Sky Sports Darts with another double session on Saturday, kicking off at (****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** and then again at 7pm with Fallon Sherrock in action
Last Updated: 25 / 15 / 020 13: am
Peter Wright, complete in his Elf outfit, defeated Noel Malicdem in a sudden-death leg thriller on Friday night at Alexandra Palace
Peter Wright showed his class by winning a dramatic sudden-death shoot-out at the World Darts Championship on Friday night as Nathan Aspinall impressed .
Seventh-ranked Wright wore a meticulous Elf outfit as he made his first appearance at the tournament, taking on Noel Malicdem. Both players had a match dart, but in the end Wright used all his experience to pull off a thrilling sudden-death 3-2 win against Philippines ace Malicdem.
Wright nailed a to take control of his match against Malicdem
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Wright, a World Cup winner alongside Gary Anderson for Scotland, took the opener in straight legs before Malicdem edged the second set in a deciding leg with an unorthodox 68 finish. The Filipino continued to give Wright some bother with a cool 125 finish, but Wright soon trumped that with a 116 before cleaning up the set with an – darter.
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The Scot nailed a humongous checkout to save himself from the brink of defeat****** Tinkerman Wright missed one match dart in the fourth leg of the fourth set and that cost him dearly as Malicdem pinned tops to send the clash into a deciding set. Malicdem moved to within one leg of causing a huge shock, but Wright produced a classy comeback with a match-saving 163 to send the match into a tie-break .
At 5-5, they headed into a sudden-death leg and after Wright won the all-important throw at the bull, he soon closed out. a thrilling contest by successfully landing double 16.
The Asp impresses
Nathan Aspinall opened his World Championship campaign with a win
Aspinall had an incredible run here months ago, reaching the semi-finals, and there are hopes that he can potentially go one better this year following an opening win against Danny Baggish.
Aspinall has already claime da televised major at the UK Open this year but North American champion Baggish made a dream start by winning the opening set 3-1 as he punished Aspinall for missing seven darts at doubles.
You have no idea how hard that was. My career kick-started here last year, no one expected me to reach the semi-finals but there’s a lot of expectation this year. There was a lot of screaming on stage, I play better when I give it a bit.
Nathan Aspinall
Stockport thrower Aspinall averaged 125 in the second set as he whitewashed Baggish in 39 darts to level things up. Former goalkeeper Aspinall then nailed tops in the deciding leg of the third set to move ahead.
And the world No wrapped up a comeback 3-1 victory over Baggish to set up a third-round meeting with Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski on Sunday afternoon.
(**********************************1: (**************************************** Aspinall felt that expectations were high ahead of the match against Danny Baggish
Aspinall felt that expectations were high ahead of the match against Danny Baggish
(************************************************** ************************************** 2020 World Darts Championships: Results, schedule, draw (********************************************************
(**************************************** Nathan Aspinall 3-1 Danny Baggish (R2)************************************************** (****************************************** **************************************************
Joe Cullen 1-3 Nico Kurz (R2) (*************************************************************
(********************************************************** Max Hopp 3-2 Benito van de Pas (R2)(********************************************************** Peter Wright 3-2 Noel Malicdem (R2) ************************************************** Germany Maximise their chances
Nico Kurz knocked out Joe Cullen to continue his dream run at the Worlds
Nico Kurz had already seen off James Wilson in the first round and Bradford’s Joe Cullen was next on his hit list with a superb 3-1 win. (********************************
Cullen opened the second set with a fine (checkout
) *********************The – year-old appeared on course to win the opening set at 2-0 up but ‘The Rockstar’ staged a comeback. A two-dart 100 combination finish enabled him to snatch it from the jaws of defeat. The roles were reversed in the second set as the German debutant recovered from 2-0 down to snatch it in the deciding leg before he clinched the third set 3-1 to leave Cullen in serious bother.
Joe Cullen has now lost his first match in out of appearances at Alexandra Palace.
The 17 seeds have lost their first matches at the WC in two straight years (Clayton last year). Prior to that, the seed had won (straight, from 2005 to (************************************************************************************************************************************************************, aft er Jamie Harvey lost in (****************************************************************************************************************************************************************.
Cullen became the fifth seed to depart this year Worlds
And Kurz continued his run at Alexandra Palace by sinking tops to eliminate th seeded Cullen and set up a clash against Luke Humphries.
Another German in action was their No 1 (Max Hopp) ****************************************************** as he beat Benito van de Pas in five sets.
Van de Pas took out this 167 during the second set of his clash against Hopp
‘The Maximiser’ produced a magnificent 12 – dart leg to win the first set but the Dutchman, helped by a stunning checkout along the way, quickly leveled. Back came Hopp with a 115 finish in the next as he moved one set away from victory.**********************
********** Germany’s Hopp hit back with a stunning************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ (checkout in the fourth set
despite a magical 158 from Hopp, Van de Pas applied the squeeze to send the contest into a deciding set where his form deserted him. The German won three-straight legs to close out the contest and set up a match with Darius Labanauskas.
Mervyn King used all his experience to defeat Ciaran Teehan
(Mervyn King) ****************************************************** used his years of experience to crush the hopes of – year-old Irishman Ciaran Teehan in a tie-break.
The Cork thrower conjured up some magic to battle back from 2-0 down to force a deciding set tie-break before ‘The King’ crushed his hopes, winning 4-2 in a dramatic conclusion.
(Darren Webster) **************************************************** lost the opening leg but then won the next nine in a row, adding fini shes of and 100, to demolish Japan’s Yuki Yamada 3-0. He easily progressed to the third round where he will meet the winner of the match between Adrian Lewis or Cristo Reyes.
Jonny Clayton dropped just three legs on his way to a clinical whitewash victory over Jan Dekker. ‘The Ferret’ made it through to the third round for the first time in his career.
Ricky Evans won his match in rapid style with a show-stopping ********************In the final match of the afternoon session ‘R apid ‘ (Ricky Evans) breezed through the first two sets before taking his foot off the gas allowing Coventry’s Mark McGeeney back in the game, but he reeled in a rapid 170 finish in the third leg of the fourth set to seal victory 3-1.
Evans must now prepare for a titanic third-round encounter against world No 1 and defending champion Michael van Gerwen.
Evans says he’s ready to tackle Michael van Gerwen in the next round
Saturday at the Darts
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************************************************ Afternoon Session ( (GMT) (**************************************************** (************************************************************ (********************************************************** (************************************************************ Keegan Brown vs Seigo Asada (R2) (******************************************************** Simon Whitlock vs Harr y Ward (R2)
********************************** (********************************************************** Daryl Gurney vs Justin Pipe (R2) (************************************************************
(************************************************ (Glen Durrant vs Damon Heta) R2) (**************************************************************
********************************** (********************************************************** Mensur Suljovic vs Fallon Sherrock (R2) (************************************************************
(************************************************ Dimitri Van den Bergh vs Josh Payne (R2) (**************************************************************
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***********************************************************************************************************************************(************************************ (************************************3:Fallon Sherrock: Who’s to say I can’t lift the trophy?
Fallon Sherrock : Who’s to say I can’t lift the trophy?
Check out daily Darts news onskysports.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. ****************************************************************************** Read More************************************************************************************************ (******************************************************************************************************
Nico Kurz had already seen off James Wilson in the first round and Bradford’s Joe Cullen was next on his hit list with a superb 3-1 win. (********************************
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