Raymond van Barneveld suffered a shock second-round exit

PDC World Darts Championship results: Raymond van Barneveld and Anastasia Dobromyslova crash out

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Tue December 18, 2018 · 6y ago

A review of Monday night's action at the PDC World Darts Championship, as Raymond van Barneveld suffered a shock exit and Anastasia Dobromyslova also lost.

Scroll down for full round-up, results & match highlights

Barney beaten by Labanauskas

Raymond van Barneveld suffered a shock exit at his penultimate PDC World Darts Championship - although he may now struggle to qualify for the tournament in his retirement year.

Barney was beaten 3-2 by Darius Labanauskas in a match which will be remembered by woeful finishing from both players.

Van Barneveld was averaging in the 70s at the end of the first set, which was comfortably won by the Lithuanian debutant 3-1 with an 86 checkout to round it off.

The five-time world champion bounced back by winning a deciding leg in the second set, as a cool 72 checkout completed a 14-darter, but he spurned four darts to win fifth leg of the third set and was eventually punished by the equally misfiring Labanauskas.

Barney made no mistake when the fourth set also went the distance but in the fifth his finishing fell apart and while his opponent's wasn't much better - especially in the opening leg in which he missed 11 darts at double compared to the Dutchman's four - he stumbled over the line.

Labanauskas averaged 87, hit five 180s, had a high finish of 99 and made 13 of his 42 attempts at doubles while Barney's numbers were 90, four, 100 and nine from 38.

The 51-year-old, who last month announced he'll retire at the end of the 2019/2020 edition was defending £80,000 in prize money that he won here two years ago but only takes home £15,000 this time which means he'll slide drastically down the rankings to the high 20s.

This will make qualification for the big majors, where most money is accumulated, all the more difficult and unless he plays more regularly on the Pro Tour, then he may even struggle to book a spot at next year's World Championship.

There will also be plenty of talk as to whether he deserves a Premier League Darts spot but surely his record of being involved in every season since he made the switch to the PDC can't end in his final year?

Meanwhile, Labanauskas will go on to meet either Adrian Lewis or Ted Evetts.

"I can't believe it, this is 100 percent the biggest win of my life," said the first Lithuanian ever to play at the PDC World Championship. "At the start of my first set I wasn't feeling good but I've been getting better and better the more time I spend on that incredible stage.

"This is massive for me, to beat a player of the calibre of Van Barneveld's class gives me great confidence for the rest of the tournament."

Van Barneveld said: "This is a very painful defeat, I really have no explanation for this performance and I can’t tell you how much this defeat hurts. I’m not sure what happened because everything went right before this match. I felt really good before I got on the stage and was practising well but for some reason that changed when I got on stage.

“I don’t know if it was tension or what it was but I had enough chances and I didn’t take them. I should’ve won the third set and I didn’t so all of the confidence I had, I started to lose."

Dobromyslova downed by Joyce

Anastasia Dobromyslova's hopes of becoming the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Darts Championship are over after she was soundly beaten 3-0 by debutant Ryan Joyce.

The Russian, playing here for the first time since 2008, started well enough as she delighted the Alexandra Palace crowd by winning the opening leg of the match but Joyce stormed back with checkouts of 106, 122 and 95.

Dobromyslova, a three-time women's world champion in the BDO, only managed to hit only two more doubles - both in the third set - as Joyce powered into the second round despite his nervy start.

Joyce averaged 90 compared to his opponent's 77 while he managed three 100+ checkouts including a high of 122, and three maximums.

Drama for dancing Devon

Devon Petersen just about held his nerve to edge a thrilling 3-2 victory over Wayne Jones as both played spurned a host of match darts in a sudden-death leg.

The South African impressed the crowd and the millions watching at home with his trademark dancing before a dart was thrown and he carried that swagger into the opening set, eventually taking it 3-2 when a 94 checkout completed a 14-darter.

Playing in his sixth World Championship, Petersen raced through the second 3-0 before the Wolverhampton's Jones began a superb fightback on his first appearance at Alexandra Palace since the 2015 edition.

The 53-year-old whitewashed his opponent in the third set and showed real character at 2-2 in the next when Petersen was waiting on 40 to force a decider.

The first four legs were shared meaning a sudden death leg was required, with Petersen having the advantage of throwing first.

He looked to have made the most of that advantage when leaving 40 with Jones back on 180 but the Wanderer's 140 put the pressure on.

Petersen missed all three above the wire only for Jones to do the same in a frantic finish, and another three match darts came and went for both players.

Needing five, the South African hit single one, missed his first attempt at double two before nailing it to spark wild celebrations.

Lourence gone but not forgotten

Vincent van der Voort came through a thoroughly-entertaining clash with Lourence Ilagan 3-1 to book his place in the second round.

The Dutch veteran, who almost quit the sport a couple of years ago due to his ongoing injury problems, racing through the opening set, nailing a 91 checkout along the way, but the pumped up Filipino star landed finishes of 120 and 81 to level up the match.

In that second set both players were averaging over 100, with the Asian Tour's number one player as high as 108 and converting all three of his attempts at doubles.

However just when it looked like Ilagan was about to seize control, he missed a dart to go 2-1 up in a deciding leg and van der Voort duly punished him with a 64 checkout.

This didn't seem to faze the 42-year-old as a 106 checkout helped him move 2-0 ahead in the fourth but he missed four set darts as the popular Dutchman stormed back to win three legs on the trot.

Van der Voort's average of 94 was slightly lower than Ilagan's 96 while he hit two 180s compared to his opponent's five. His checkout percentage was fractionally lower too but he hit the key doubles at the right time.

The former UK Open finalist will face Darren Webster in the second round on Tuesday.

Monday's results & Tuesday schedule

Vincent van der Voort 3-1 Lourence Ilagan (R1)
Wayne Jones 2-3 Devon Petersen (R1)
Ryan Joyce 3-0 Anastasia Dobromyslova (R1)
Raymond van Barneveld 2-3 Darius Labanauskas (R2)

Tuesday December 18
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
First/Second Round (Best of 5 sets)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts

Robert Thornton v Daniel Larsson (R1)
Ricky Evans v Rowby-John Rodriguez (R1)
Krzysztof Ratajski v Seigo Asada (R1)
Darren Webster v Vincent van der Voort (R2)

Evening Session (1900)
First/Second Round (Best of 5 sets)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts

Steve Lennon v James Bailey (R1)
Ron Meulenkamp v Diogo Portela (R1)
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Chuck Puleo (R1)
Daryl Gurney v Ross Smith (R2)

Full World Championship draw and schedule