Michael Smith (16/1 Tournament Outright) believes he has proved a point to himself after opening his PDC World Championship campaign with a 3-0 win over Ron Meulenkamp.
Tuesday 21st December Results:
Afternoon Session:
Lewy Williams 3-0 Toyokazu Shibata (R1)
Jason Lowe 3-0 Daniel Larsson (R1)
Mervyn King 3-2 Ryan Joyce (R2)
Dave Chisnall 3-0 Mike De Decker (R2)
Evening Session:
Vincent van der Voort 3-0 Adam Hunt (R2)
Michael Smith 3-0 Ron Meulenkamp (R2)
Dimitri Van den Bergh 1-3 Florian Hempel (R2)
Devon Petersen 0-3 Raymond Smith (R2)
Wednesday 22nd December Order of Play:
Afternoon Session:
Ryan Searle v William Borland (R2) – 12:30
Glen Durrant v William O’Connor (R2) – 13:30
Luke Humphries v Rowby-John Rodriguez (R2) – 14:30
Joe Cullen v Jim Williams (R2) – 15:30
Evening Session:
Nathan Aspinall v Joe Murnan (R2) – 19:00
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Boris Koltsov (R2) – 20:00
Kim Huybrechts v Steve Beaton (R2) – 21:00
Simon Whitlock v Martijn Kleermaker (R2) – 22:00
Smith lost at the first hurdle at the Alexandra Palace in both 2020 and 2021, going down 3-1 to Luke Woodhouse, who was victorious on Monday, and Jason Lowe .
After reaching the final in 2019, Bully’s form has been hit and miss, with a quarter-final at the World Matchplay and a last four outing at the Grand Slam of Darts the relative highlights of his 2021 campaign.
However, Smith came out fighting upon his return to the Worlds on Tuesday, averaging 106.32 in dismissing Ron Meulenkamp 3-0, to book a place in the third round after Christmas against the winner of Wednesday’s match between Glen Durrant and William O’Connor (Match Betting – Durrant 9/2, O’Connor 1/7).
The 31-year-old admits he has found it tough to produce his best form on the biggest stage after being the runner-up to Michael Van Gerwen in 2019, but believes he showed he can still produce what he needs with Tuesday’s victory.
“It’s been a rough two years for me on this stage so I had a point to prove,” he was quoted as saying by the St Helens Star. “I was thinking that this game was an omen for me as the last time I played Ron on this stage I reached the final so I was thinking about that.
“I’m happy and I’m keeping calm and keeping focused. I get to go home now and enjoy Christmas and a few hours of boxing day and then I’m second on the 27th.
“It’s all about concentrating on that next time and getting the win and when I’m in the quarter finals that’s when I can think about winning it.”
Elsewhere on Tuesday evening, Dimitri Van den Bergh’s average of 101.78 wasn’t enough as he went down 3-1 to Florian Hempel, while it was a bad night all round for those who like to move, with Dancing Devon Peterson also eliminated, 3-0 by Raymond Smith.
Hempel will meet the latter Smith in the next round, while Vincent van der Voort faces James Wade after whitewashing Adam Hunt.
Onto Wednesday, which is the penultimate day of action before the Christmas break, and ‘Heavy Metal’ Ryan Searle headlines the afternoon session.
He takes on the nine-dart hero from the first round, William Borland (Match Betting – Searle 3/10, Borland 5/2) in the opening match ahead of the Durrant-O’Connor showdown.
Into the evening and 2010 finalist Simon Whitlock closes the show against Martijn Kleermaker (Match Betting – Whitlock 4/7, Kleermaker 7/5).
Nathan Aspinall gets things going against Joe Murnan but the match of the night could be the clash between Fallon Sherrock’s conqueror, 1996 BDO world champion Steve Beaton, and Belgium’s Kim Huybrechts (Match Betting – Huybrechts 4/9, Beaton 7/4).
PDC World Darts Championship Betting Odds