Smudger Sails Through While Irish Pair Also Advance

Ross Smith hit the second 170 checkout of the 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship as he disposed of Niels Zonneveld to advance to round three.

Smith Eases Into Round Three

‘Smudger’, the 2022 European Championship winner, is the 16th seed and started strongly, winning the opening set without reply.

Smith then broke in the opening leg of set two but Zonneveld responded to take his first leg of the match to get the set back on throw. Each player then held their throw to take the set to a deciding leg, Smith breaking in 13 darts to double his advantage.

The man from Kent again started a set well, landing a 170 checkout to open the set. Again, the set went to a decider with Smith now throwing for the match but it was the Dutchman who took it after Smith had missed a match dart.

Zonneveld handed the initative straight back to Smith at the beginning of set four, no big treble in his opening 12 darts leading to an easy break chance for Smith, who duly capitalised before holding throw twice to seal his spot on round three, finishing with seven maximums and a 95 average.

Irish Duo Advance To Round Two

Former World Cup of Darts finalists William O’Connor and Steve Lennon both secured their places in round two with contrasting victories on Wednesday afternoon.

O’Connor made it a debut to forget for Indian debutant Bhav Patel, winning nine legs without reply and only allowing Patel one dart at double in the entire contest. O’Connor, who averaged almost 99, goes on to meet Chris Dobey on Friday evening.

‘Scuba Steve’ had a much more difficult passage to the next stage as he recovered from two sets down to beat Owen Bates.

Debutant Bates got off to the ideal start, casting aside some early nerves to take the opening set by three legs to one.

The Challenge Tour runner up then upped the ante in set two, two ton plus checkouts and the disappointment of two missed darts for the set in leg four were followed by a nerveless two dart 94 checkout in the deciding leg with Lennon waiting on 36 after crashing in a 174 set up shot.

Lennon started to find his form in set three, a 118 checkout helped him on his way to halving the deficit and when the Irishman broke in the first leg of set four, a deciding set looked on the cards but Bates immediately responded with a 12 dart break. Five missed darts at double from Bates were punished as Lennon broke again and the former World Cup of Darts star held to force the decider, albeit after Bates had missed the bull for a 170 checkout.

Lennon led for the first time in the match after holding the first leg of the final set, Bates replying with his fourth maximum on his way to holding the next. Bates had a dart to break in leg three, dragging the dart at tops of a 120 attempt before Lennon closed out the leg. Lennon then broke in 13 darts to seal a comeback victory after winning 9 of the last 11 legs and to keep his hopes of holding onto his Tour Card alive.

Szaganski Wins On Palace Debut

The opening game of the afternoon saw Radek Szaganski win on his Ally Pally debut, taking an arduous tie against Finland’s Marko Kantele in a deciding set.

Both players struggled to get going in the opening set with Szaganski taking the set by three legs to one, despite not hitting a score of 140 or above.

Set two went with throw, Kantele’s advantage of throwing first and opening with 140 in the final leg proving enough to see him even up the scores at 1-1.

The third set followed the same pattern until the vital deciding leg as Szaganski missed no less than seven set darts before Kantele stepped up to take out 48 in two darts.

Three consecutive breaks opened up the fourth set with a pair of breaks for Szaganski sandwiching a 110 checkout from Kantele, the first ton out of the contest. The first hold of the set made it two sets all.

Szaganski finally started to show his quality as he made the perfect start to the decider, checking out 142 for a 15 dart hold. An 80 checkout doubled his lead to put the Pole on the brink and he followed that with a 74 out in leg three to complete an impressive set, not really befitting the rest of the contest.

He faces Raymond van Barneveld in round two.

Tuesday Afternoon Results

Radek Szaganski 3-2 Marko Kantele (3-1, 2-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-0) (R1)

Steve Lennon 3-2 Owen Bates (1-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-1, 3-1) (R1)

William O’Connor 3-0 Bhav Patel (3-0, 3-0, 3-0) (R1)

Ross Smith 3-1 Niels Zonneveld (3-0, 3-2, 2-3, 3-1) (R2)