Michael van Gerwen booked his place in the next round of the Paddy Power World Darts Championship having defeated debutant James Hurrell 3-0 in sets. Having lost the first leg he then reeled off 5 legs on the spin to take control of the game not missing a dart at a double in that purple patch.

Michael van Gerwen missed 9 of his 18 darts at a double but all 9 of those came in 2 legs with 6 of those in a comical leg where MVG couldn’t finish and Hurrell unable to capatalise having bust 140 himself. Hurrell had his chances and will be unhappy having been unable to to win a few more legs having to settle for one leg in each set.

The Green Machine hit five maximums in the process and averaged just shy of 95. In a year when all the talk has been about the Luke’s – van Gerwen will be happy to get this win under his belt as he hopes to clinch his fourth world title.

In an all Irish affair it was Dylan Slevin who came out on top after defeating Willie O’Connor 3-1 to register his first win on the Alexandra Palace stage. His reward for defeating his counterpart is a second round match against Dimitri Van den Bergh.

Uncharacteristically for O’Connor he failed to get going and was punished by his younger opponent although Slevin himself had his own troubles on the outer ring especially in the final set when he missed 17 darts at a double but had the luxury of being able to miss them as the Magpie wasn’t close enough to steal the leg away.

Both players averaged in the mid 80’s and will look back wishing they’d have been able to bring their A game for the first Irish battle on the Alexandra Palace stage.

Bunting and Nijman forced to dig deep to keep World Championship hopes alive

Stephen Bunting had to fight back from a set down against German darter Kai Gotthardt to book his place in the third round of Paddy Power World Darts Championship. With the Alexandra Palace looking to go Bunting Mental it was the German crowd who were cheering early on after Gotthardt hit three maximums and hit all three of his attempts at double to run away with the first set.  The German could’ve doubled his lead had his doubling radar not escaped him allowing Bunting to clinch the set in the deciding leg.

This proved to be a turning point in the match in more than one way as Bunting reeled off the next 6 legs to comfortably win 3-1 set restricting Gotthardt to a single dart at a double in the final two sets. Bunting will be relieved to get through this tough test having registered two maximums as both players ended the match with 50% on their doubles.

The eighth seed will have to wait until Saturday afternoon to find who he’ll face in the next round.

One player who didn’t get it all his own way in his opening match of the Paddy Power World Championship was Wessel Nijman as the young Dutch star eventually squeezed past South Africa’s Cameron Carolissen in a last leg decider.

Having raced into a 2-0 set lead Nijman who has won a Pro Tour and topped the Development Tour Order of Merit looked in control largely thanks to his double hitting and Carolissen unable to find a double especially in the first set where the South African missed 10 darts. But Nijman’s inability to consistently score heavy would catch up with him and deservedly Carolissen got himself back into the game.

Going into the deciding set the South African had the darts and both players held their throw to take us to a last leg decider where Nijman managed to find a 15 darter and clinch the win whilst breaking African hearts.

Carolissen can feel hard done by and proud of his performance having averaged higher than his opponent and also scored more three figure scores than his opponent – his only downfall being he missed too many crucial darts at a double to punish Nijman for giving him opportunities.

Round-Up

In the first match of the afternoon it was Alexander Merkx who booked his place in the second round as he got the better of Stephen Burton three sets to nil. Despite both players sharing 57 scores of 100 or more in 13 legs of darts neither player could score consistently well enough as both ended the match with below 80 averages.

Missing 28 darts at a double between them didn’t help but if “The Great” wants to progress further he’ll have to bring his A game when he faces Chris Dobey but will be relieved to have won on his Alexandra Palace debut.

Elsewhere Micky Mansell picked up from his Semi-Final run in the Grand Slam of Darts as he overcame Tomoya Goto 3-1 in sets. Goto who beat Ian White at this stage 12 months ago averaged higher than Mansell and hit more maximums but Mansell’s finishing coming to his rescue as he hit over 50% of his darts thrown at the double. The Clonoe Cyclone’s reward for this victory is a second round clash with Jonny Clayton.

Another match that saw the player with the higher average lose was between Florian Hempel and Jeffrey de Zwaan with the Germany booking his place in round two courtesy of a 3-1 victory. It was another case of what if and missed doubles as the pair missed 30 darts at the outer ring between them. Both players averaged mid 90’s and hit seven maximums a piece but the damage was done early on as Hempel went 2-0 up. Despite Jeffrey de Zwaan averaging over 103 in the third set his inability to hold his own throw and missing 13 darts at a double in the fourth set cost him and Hempel secured his place in the next round.

The other afternoon game saw Ian White progress to round 2 courtesy of a walkover after his opponent Sandro Eric Sosing withdrawing on medical advice with the Filipino leaving Alexandra Palace to go to a local hospital.

2025 Paddy Power World Darts Championship Day Six Results

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x Round One, 1x Round Two

Alexander Merkx 3-0 Stephen Burton (R1)

Wessel Nijman 3-0 Romeo Grbavac (R1)

Ian White W/O Sandro Eric Sosing (R1)

Stephen Bunting 3-1 Kai Gotthardt (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

3x Round One, 1x Round Two

Micky Mansell 3-1 Tomoya Goto (R1)

Florian Hempel 3-1 Jeffrey de Zwaan (R1)

Dylan Slevin 3-1 Willie O’Connor (R1)

Michael van Gerwen 3-0 James Hurrell (R2)