MvG Eases Through While Wade Slayed By Ginger Ninja

Michael van Gerwen began is quest for a fourth world title with a comfortable win over Keane Barry but James Wade made it successive round two exits after a shock loss to Canadian Matt Campbell on day five of the 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championships.

Easy Work For Mighty Mike

Hunting a first world title since 2019, van Gerwen rattled through the first set, although Barry had his chances, hitting just one attempt from ten in the opening stanza.

Barry took the opening leg of set two and looked set to break the van Gerwen throw in leg two before the man from Vlijmen took out a 167 checkout with Barry waiting on a two dart outshot. From there, the Dutchman immediately broke throw after more missed opportunities from Barry and followed that up with a hold to make it two sets to the good.

The final set saw van Gerwen take all three legs to advance into round three having dropped just two legs, averaging 98 and hitting 60% of his attempts at double.

Wade Goes By The Wayside

Multiple major winner James Wade is out of the tournament, letting slip of a 2-1 lead against Matt Campbell.

‘The Machine’ had been touted as a potential outsider for the tournament following some solid recent form and a known ability to grind out results when not at his best but that ability deserted him as Canadian Campbell, who hadn’t won a match in four trips to Ally Pally prior to this tournament, held his nerve in the final set after the four that preceded it all went against the throw.

Rest Of The Action

The afternoon session started with Japan’s Tomoya Goto producing an inspired performance to beat Ian ‘Diamond’ White. Hot on the heels of Man Lok Leung’s stunning victory over Gian van Veen on Monday, there was more delight for the Asian darting world as Goto claimed the first two sets, both in deciding legs before seeing out victory in set four. He now faces Ryan Searle on Saturday evening.

There was more Ally Pally pain for Ritchie Edhouse as he threw away a two set lead and missed a match dart to beat Jeffrey de Graaf, with the Swede eventually advancing to a second round tie with Jose De Sousa.

Croatia’s Boris Krcmar made the most of his last gasp qualifying spot at the Tour Card Holder qualifier, coming from a set down to beat Keegan Brown, dropping just two legs after the opening set. ‘The Biggest’ will face Dirk van Duijvenbode next.

The evening session kicked off with the small matter of Steve Beaton’s 33rd consecutive world championship appearance and he celebrated with one of his best performances on the Ally Pally stage in recent years, averaging 92 and hitting 5 maximums while beating Dutchman Wessel Nijman by three sets to one. He will face Daryl Gurney in round two.

Mike De Decker eased to a straight sets victory over Dragutin Horvat, ‘The Real Deal’ averaging over ten points more than his opponent in setting up a winnable round two encounter with Madars Razma.

Ricardo ‘Pikachu’ Pietreczko dropped just a single leg against an under par Mikuru Suzuki, the German showing no mercy with a 92 average and 50% checkout percentage and ending female participation in this year’s championships. He goes on to face Callan Rydz in the second round.

Tuesday’s Results

Afternoon Session

Tomoya Goto 3-1 Ian White (3-2, 3-2, 1-3, 3-0) (R1)

Jeffrey de Graaf 3-2 Ritchie Edhouse (2-3, 2-3, 3-2, 3-2, 3-1) (R1)

Boris Krcmar 3-1 Keegan Brown (2-3, 3-0, 3-0, 3-2) (R1)

Matt Campbell 3-2 James Wade (1-3, 3-1, 1-3, 3-0, 3-1) (R2)

Evening Session

Steve Beaton 3-1 Wessel Nijman (3-1, 3-2, 0-3, 3-2) (R1)

Mike De Decker 3-0 Dragutin Horvat (3-1, 3-1, 3-2) (R1)

Ricardo Pietreczko 3-0 Mikuru Suzuki (3-0, 3-1, 3-0) (R1)

Michael van Gerwen 3-0 Keane Barry (3-1, 3-1, 3-0) (R2)