Monday 22 December 2014 11:30, UK
Dave Chisnall overcame his darts regularly falling off the board to comfortably beat Ryan De Vreede 3-0 at the World Championship at Alexandra Palace on Sunday night.
In a bizarre display at the oche, Chizzy raced into a confident lead but his focus wavered when numerous points were left on the stage floor.
Having won six straight legs after Dutch debutant de Vreede surprisingly took the first, Chisnall’s seemingly easy night took an unexpected turn as his darts crashed to the ground.
He was dramatically robbed of a 180 when, rather than take his darts off the board, he celebrated with the crowd and gave his arrows the chance to drop. His points tally dropped with them and De Vreede oddly took the leg.
Even the Dutchman suffered at the cruel hands of the board and Chisnall’s excellent start vanished after he had checked out with his first four attempts.
Ultimately the St. Helens thrower had too much quality for his young opponent and advanced to the second round where he will face Benito van de Pas.
Another gear
James Wade was pushed but overcame a game Jamie Lewis 3-1 to likely meet Stephen Bunting in the next round.
A one-sided opening set saw Wade average just under 97 but Lewis remained in the game, snatching second-set legs despite some questionable decision-making.
Wade briefly wobbled – eight straight darts missed on a double – and Lewis took the second set but the experienced Aldershot thrower stepped into another gear.
Lewis broke his throw and seemed like he may cause a problem but Wade relentlessly marched through the match and looked more comfortable as the game went on. When victory came it had developed into an inevitability for Wade.
Elsewhere on Sunday evening, Kim Huybrechts breezed into the second round beating Michael Mansell 3-0 and Ian White made short work of John Michael, who had advanced after winning a preliminary tie with Jani Haavisto, winning 3-1.