Christian Kist hit a 9 Darter on a historic night at the Alexandra Palace, pocketing £60,000 grand for himself, one lucky crowd member and Prostate Cancer UK all thanks to Paddy Power.

Woes for Williams

The opening game of the evening saw Welshman Jim Williams take on Filipino star Paolo Nebrida. Nebrida looking to win his first game on the World Championship stage in his 3rd attempt.

‘Pow’ kickstarted the night off in perfect fashion, pinning a 180 in his first visit, going onto take the leg and then the opening set. Williams missed five darts to take a 1-0 lead himself.

It was a much better second set for the Welsh Number 3, levelling the game up with relative ease before Nebrida retook the lead much to the dismay of the agitated Jim Williams. In his two previous Ally Pally appearances, the Asian ace managed to gain two sets in defeat both times so the game was far from over.

But there was a different script written this time as Paolo Nebrida dumped out Jim Williams in a final, deciding leg to finally get over the line on the biggest stage of all, a massive defeat for Williams who missed five match darts.

9 Darter from Kist

Game 2 saw former World Champion Christian Kist against the Latvian Madars Razma. Kist looking to win his first game at the PDC World Championship since 2016, this game seen as much easier than his previous appearance at the palace where he faced Luke Littler.

The ‘Lipstick’ started strongly, hitting a 180 in each of the legs he started in set one but one leg stood out in particular. Christian Kist hit back-to-back maximums to set up a 141 checkout which he dispatched magnificently to hit the first 9-Darter of the tournament and the first at the World Championship since ‘the greatest leg ever’ in the 2023 Final.

Not only does he create his own bit of history with the perfect leg, but tournament sponsors Paddy Power promised a £180,000 prize fund for each 9 dart leg at this years tournament:

  • £60,000 to Christian Kist
  • £60,000 to Prostate Cancer UK
  • £60,000 to a random crowd member

Madars Razma didn’t let this derail his hopes as he returned from the break to take the second set to level the game up and bring Kist back down to earth. The Latvian motored on with the Dutchman unable to reach the highs of the first set, running out a 3-1 winner to book a match up with Dirk van Duijvenbode in the second round.

Elation at last for Evans

Ricky Evans was coming into his World Darts Championship campaign off the back of nine consecutive losses and two wins in his last 14 matches. His opponent Gordon Mathers was back at the palace courtesy of the DPA Tour for the first time since 2022.

‘Rapid’ Ricky looked a flustered and frustrated figure during the second set with the game poised at 1-1, complaining about his grip. He managed to compose himself and break the ‘GG’ throw and have the darts to flip the game in his favour once more, in which he did so.

The new look Gordon Mathers didn’t drop his level in the fourth set and managed to break the Ricky Evans throw in Leg 3 to heap the pressure on the Kettering ace. Evans was unable to respond and the Aussie took us all the way.

Agony for the Asp

It was hard work for him, but Rapid Ricky produced a quickfire 109 checkout to finally get over the line against Gordon Mathers in a gruelling affair. A much needed win for the UK Open Semi-Finalist.

The dancing American Leonard Gates was in Nathan Aspinall’s way in his opening game of this years World Championship. ‘The Asp’, as usual, had the crowd in the palm of his hands after an exhilarating walk on and gave them something to cheer about as he blitzed through the first set in rapid fashion.

The second set went the way of the ‘Soulger’ Leonard Gates but both players looked very annoyed with there performance as they went off for the second and final break.

An underwhelming standard from both players but it was the Number 12 seed Nathan Aspinall who stumbled over the line 3-1, surviving set darts from the American.

 

2025 Paddy Power World Darts Championship

Day 4 Results

18th December

Round One

Jim Williams 2-3 Paolo Nebrida

Madars Razma 3-1 Christian Kist

Ricky Evans 3-2 Gordon Mathers

Round Two

Nathan Aspinall 3-1 Leonard Gates