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PDC World Championship: Qualifier Cristo Reyes stuns No 13 seed Wes Newton

Tenerife's Cristo Reyes caused a major shock on the opening day of this year's PDC World Darts Championship by beating the seeded Wes Newton
Image: Tenerife's Cristo Reyes caused a major shock on the opening day of this year's PDC World Darts Championship by beating the seeded Wes Newton

Spanish qualifier Cristo Reyes created a massive shock on the opening day of the PDC World Championship by ousting the No 13 seed Wes Newton.

In the final match of Thursday’s evening session, the 27-year-old from Tenerife edged out Newton 3-2 following a dramatic final-leg sudden-death shootout.

Reyes took the opening two sets 3-1 before the Englishman levelled the contest by securing the next two sets for the loss of just one leg.

However, the decider went all the way to the wire with Reyes clinching the final leg 6-5 by securing a double 16 at the first attempt.

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Although Newton enjoyed a better three-dart average than his opponent (94.61 to 93.47) he will take no further part in the tournament.

Both players hit four maximums and enjoyed 38 three-dart scores of 100 or more and, for Reyes, it was his second success of the night after coming through a preliminary match with a 4-0 triumph over Christian Perez.

He said: “Playing in the preliminary round helped a lot with the nerves, I was far less nervous coming back than I was in the preliminary round.

“I’ll be going back to Tenerife now for Christmas and then we’ll come back. I didn’t have a flight booked back obviously but we’ll sort that out. This is great for me and for Spanish darts.”

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