William Borland enjoyed a night to remember at the PDC World Championship on Friday, as he booked his place in the second round with a nine-dart finish on debut against Bradley Brooks.
Friday 17th December Results:
Afternoon Session
Ryan Joyce 3-2 Roman Benecky (R1)
Keane Barry 3-2 Royden Lam (R1)
Jermaine Wattimena 0-3 Boris Koltsov (R1)
Krzysztof Ratajski 1-3 Steve Lennon (R2)
Evening Session
Joe Murnan 3-2 Paul Lim (R1)
William Borland 3-2 Bradley Brooks (R1)
Ross Smith 3-0 Jeff Smith (R1)
Peter Wright 3-0 Ryan Meikle (R2)
Saturday 18th December Order of Play:
Jamie Hughes vs Raymond Smith (R1 – 12:40)
Callan Rydz vs Yuki Yamada (R1 – 13:30)
Darius Labanauskas vs Mike De Decker (R1 – 14:30)
Ian White vs Chris Landman (R2 – 15:30)
Adam Hunt vs Boris Krcmar (R1 – 19:10)
Ted Evetts vs Jim Williams (R1 – 20:00)
Rowby-John Rodriguez vs Nick Kenny (R1 – 21:00)
Michael van Gerwen vs Chas Barstow (R2 – 22:00)
The 25-year-old Scot became the 11th player to join the nine-dart club at the Worlds and the first to do so to seal victory in a televised PDC event, as he came through 3-2 in the deciding leg.
Borland’s reward for reaching the second round will be a clash with 15th seed Ryan Searle on Wednesday (Searle 1/3, Borland 9/4 – Match Betting), but understandably his focus was on what was a dream night for the world number 65 at Ally Pally.
“It’s the greatest night of my life,” an elated Borland told reporters. “It’s unbelievable, I’m just loving it. It’s special to hit a nine anywhere, but to do it on the biggest stage of all is just something else.”
The heroics of Borland took the attention away from fellow Scot Peter Wright, who got his quest to win a second world title in three years off to the perfect start as he comfortably booked his place in round three with a 3-0 win over Ryan Meikle.
However, Friday’s other second-round contest did not follow the script as Krzysztof Ratajski became the first seeded player to exit the competition, the Pole losing 3-1 to Ireland’s Steve Lennon.
Saturday will see Michael van Gerwen begin his quest to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy for a fourth time when he takes on Chas Barstow in round two (Van Gerwen 1/14, Barstow 15/2 – Match Betting).
Ian White will also be in second round action against Chris Landman (White 2/5, Landman 19/10 – Match Betting), while Callan Rydz’ clash with Japanese qualifier Yuki Yamada is among the pick of the first-round matches (Rydz 1/18, Yamada 9/1 – Match Betting).
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