A review of day two of the World Matchplay, as defending champion Rob Cross crashed out to Gabriel Clemens and Peter Wright survived a huge scare.
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Cross sent packing by Clemens
Rob Cross became the first defending World Matchplay champion to lose in the first round since 2006 as Gabriel Clemens enjoyed a dream debut.
Twelve months on from completing the second part of a career Triple Crown at the Winter Gardens, the 2018 world champion was well short of his best in a hard-fought battle at the crowd-less Marshall Arena.
Voltage's mediocre average of 94.4 was comfortably higher than the German's 89.22 but there was huge disparity in the doubling and that ultimately proved crucial.
Clemens, who is widely regarded as Germany's number one thanks to a progressive climb up the rankings over the past 18 months, pinned 10 of his 18 attempts at the outer ring as Cross spurned 15 of his 23 while he also fired in a spectacular 170 checkout to lead 5-3.
This was his second ton+ finish having earlier taken out 127 in the fifth leg but he'll need to improve on his scoring power to give the impressive Krzysztof Ratajski a tough test in the second round.
That said, all four of Clemens' 180s came in a high-class spell in which he turned a 6-5 deficit into a 9-7 lead and although Cross pulled one back with a 110 checkout, he soon completed the job after the Hastings man missed three clear darts at double 18.
Defeat means Colin Lloyd no longer has to carry the tag of being the last defending champion to lose in the first round.
Snakebite passes eye test
Peter Wright showed the fighting spirit of a world champion to survive a real scare against the dangerous Jose De Sousa...but only after removing his glasses.
Snakebite, who is never afraid to tinker with his darts mid-match, made the decision to ditch the specs when trailing 8-5 and it had the desired effect as he won five legs on the trot to run out a 10-8 winner.
In that spell he averaged over 100, threw three of his five 180s, hit a match-changing 144 checkout when De Sousa was waiting on 48 to move 9-6 ahead, and missed just two darts at doubles.
Before then, Wright had been struggling - relatively speaking - to get his usual sighters on the trebles and doubles, especially in the ninth leg when an attempt at tops would have made most pub players feel better about their games.
His five-leg burst lifted his final average to 98.94 compared to The Special One's 96.21 while he ended up with an impressive checkout percentage of 47.62% from 21 attempts.
Wright had originally been happy with his new bespectacled look during the recent PDC Summer Series, where he performed brilliantly in topping the Order of Merit ahead of Michael van Gerwen and winning the last event against Gerwyn Price.
But it'll be interesting to see whether they reappear for a second round-meeting with Glen Durrant.
De Sousa was widely touted to push Wright hard due to the incredible displays and stats that have helped him soar up the rankings with two PDC titles over the past 12 months, and indeed he did.
A spectacular 161 checkout as early as the third leg made his intentions clear while another ton+ finish from 101 put him 7-4 up.
However, he began to wilt when the 2020 Masters champion got going and ended up with a 96.21 average, three 180s and a checkout percentage of 36.36.
Dazzling Duzza destroys De Zwaan
Glen Durrant put Jeffrey de Zwaan to the sword with a sizzling display of darts as he raced into round two of the World Matchplay with a 10-3 victory.
Duzza, who beat Michael van Gerwen en route to the semi-finals on his memorable debut 12 months ago, looked extremely sharp in the crowd-less setting at the Marshall Arena and laid down an ominous warning to his rivals with an average of 106.93.
The three-time BDO world champion hit six 180s and was also typically clinical on his doubles, pinning 40% of them and completing the job with a classy match high 86 checkout on the bullseye.
That came after de Zwaan, who averaged 96.71 and hit three maximums, missed his what was just his 10th dart at a double in the match - albeit for a speculative 145 checkout - as he struggled to live with Durrant's consistent scoring power throughout.
Of the 10 legs that Durrant won, only two of them were achieved in 16 darts or more and on this evidence, the 49-year-old will be extremely dangerous in the second half of the draw.
Bully Boy batters Clayton
Michael Smith stormed into round two of the World Matchplay with a blistering 10-3 victory over Jonny Clayton which owed much to his lethal finishing.
Last year's runner-up, who is one of our outright tips at 25/1 to claim his maiden major title this week, averaged 101.02 compared to his opponent's 91.1 in a one-sided encounter, hit two more 180s with four and ruthlessly pinned 10 of his 16 darts at doubles.
After a stuttering start, Bully Boy found his range at 1-1 when a fine 103 checkout began a run of seven successive legs, which also included a further finish of 126 and another from 92 to complete a 12-darter.
Clayton, who missed six darts at doubles in the opening leg before bouncing back with a 126 checkout to briefly restore parity, finally restored a morsel of respectability to the scoreline when reducing the deficit to 8-3 but Smith stopped the damage limitation in its tracks with a superb 10-darter before completing the job.
On this evidence, Smith backers will fancy his chances of going one better than the five occasions he's reached major finals, also including the 2019 World Championship, 2018 Premier League, 2018 World Series of Darts Finals and this year's Masters.
On being talked of as one of the best players to win a major, Smith recently told Sporting Life: "It’s between me and Terry Jenkins! It’s not annoying but if we had this conversation again in 20 years it might be!
“The only reason I’ve given up caring about people saying this about me on social media is because I know one day I will get one. Ask Terry Jenkins and he’ll probably be annoyed about it because he can’t rectify it.
"I’ve got at least 15 or 20 years left to put it right, and if I can improve every year then I know it will happen for me. Peter Wright only won his first TV title three years ago and now he’s world champion at 50.
"Gary Anderson has been a professional since he was 25 and he was in his 40s when he won the Players Championship Finals (in 2014). Think of all those years of people saying he won’t win a major because he can’t finish.
"I’ve only been a professional for around eight years so life’s too short to worry about that."
Suljovic edges Hughes in epic
Mensur Suljovic and Jamie Hughes produced an absorbing World Matchplay encounter but it was the 2018 runner-up who edged it 12-10 in extra-time.
Both players were averaging well over 100 for the lion's share of the 22 legs played and by the time the drama ended, Suljovic's 100.47 was fractionally less than his opponent's 101.13.
The Austrian did, however, hit two more 180s with 10 and further cranked up the piped-in crowd noise with no fewer than five 100+ checkouts, including a crucial 127 on the bullseye that put him 11-10 in front and a 112 to seal a dramatic victory.
Suljovic's first from 101 opened up a commanding 4-1 lead at the interval and although he took the sixth leg with a fine 11-darter, Hughes battled back brilliantly to level the scores at 5-5.
The Tipton ace would later fire in a 118 checkout to move 8-6 up and that was soon 9-7 as he sensed a minor shock against the 12th seed.
However, the 2017 Champions League of Darts winner crept back into it with a 117 finish to complete a 12-darter and then pinched the next to force a tie-break situation.
The next two legs were shared before Suljovic stunning finish booked him a second-round meeting with either Michael Smith or Jonny Clayton.
World Matchplay: Sunday results and Monday schedule
Sunday July 19
Evening Session (1800 BST)
First Round (best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: Sky Sports
- Mensur Suljovic 12-10 Jamie Hughes
- Glen Durrant 10-3 Jeffrey de Zwaan
- Rob Cross 8-10 Gabriel Clemens
- Peter Wright 10-8 Jose De Sousa
- Michael Smith 10-3 Jonny Clayton
Monday July 20 (1800 BST)
First Round (best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: Sky Sports
- Dave Chisnall v Vincent van der Voort
- Ian White v Joe Cullen
- Daryl Gurney v Ricky Evans
- Gerwyn Price v Danny Noppert
- Adrian Lewis v Steve Beaton
Click here for the full 2020 World Matchplay draw and schedule
Related Darts Content
- Chris Hammer's Player-By-Player Guide
- Paul Nicholson's World Matchplay analysis
- World Matchplay betting preview & tips
- 2020 World Matchplay draw and schedule
- Carl Fletcher's vital statistics
- 2020 Premier League venues & dates
- 2020 PDC event calendar & results
- 2020 World Darts Championship results
- 2019 PDC event results
- Sky Bet's darts odds
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