Michael van Gerwen is beaten by Jeffrey de Zwaan (Picture Chris Dean/PDC)

UK Open Darts: Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright crash out on day one but John Part storms through on his dream return

00:06 · SAT March 03, 2018

World number one Michael van Gerwen and defending UK Open champion Peter Wright have both crashed out on an opening night of shocks in Minehead but John Part is making a memorable return to the TV stage.

(Click here for full tournament results & round-by-round draws)

What day one lacked in atmosphere due to the adverse weather conditions causing the action to be played behind closed doors with no spectators, was certainly made up by the immense drama caused by some incredible underdog displays.

Odds-on tournament favourite Van Gerwen entered the tournament at the third-round stage on Friday night and was 1/50 to see off Dutch youngster Jeffrey De Zwaan.

But the 21-year-old, who could have been backed at 14/1, showed no signs of nerves to pull off one of the biggest shocks in televised darts history by claiming a 10-8 victory.

MVG boasted a slightly higher average of 96.93 (de Zwaan 96.77) and managed three 100+ checkouts including a highest of 143 but his efforts were in vain against the impressive youngster, who hit six 180s.

"I can't believe it, I think I'm still dreaming," De Zwaan told www.pdc.tv. "It's one of the biggest wins of my career but I've played really well for a few months."

The magnitude of this result arguably eclipses MVG's first-round exit at the hands of John Henderson in the first round of last year's World Grand Prix.

Wright, 1/16, was also unanimously expected to see off 8/1 outsider Nathan Rafferty but the unheralded 18-year-old fought back from 9-8 down to sink Snakebite 10-9.

Few will have heard of the Northern Irishman before tonight but now he could have shown the world of darts what a bright future he may have.

Nathan Rafferty in action during his shock victory over Peter Wright (Picture Chris Dean/PDC)

Raymond van Barneveld had survived an afternoon scare in the second-round against Mike Norton, who missed four match darts for a famous win before losing 6-5, but the Dutch veteran didn't last much longer as an inspired Mervyn King thrashed him 10-4.

Another former world champion bowed out as Adrian Lewis lost 10-5 to Dirk van Duijvenbode, who had earlier knocked out Alan Norris.

Ex-Premier League player Dave Chisnall was another notable casualty as he lost 10-6 to Ryan Meikle.

Interestingly, an accumulator of de Zwaan, Rafferty, King, van Duijvenbode and Meikle would have paid 38,880/1 with Sky Bet!

World champion Rob Cross avoided an upset with a hard-fought 10-8 win over Nathan Aspinall while Gary Anderson is vying for favourtism with Voltage after a 10-3 victory over Robert Rickwood.

There were also win for fellow Premier League players Michael Smith (10-5 Kirk Shepherd), Daryl Gurney (10-9 Jelle Klaasen) and Gerwyn Price (10-6 Alex Roy) but Simon Whitlock lost 10-7 to Ian White.

Price was one of our Chris Hammer's outright picks at 80/1 alongside 28/1 selection Corey Cadby, who won tonight, and they're prices will be a lot shorter now.

Meanwhile former three-time world champion Part, who is the star of the weekly Sporting Life Darts Podcast, hadn't qualified for an individual televised ranking event since the 2015 World Championship but his efforts just to get to Minehead were so nearly in vain due to Storm Emma.

Part was in Toronto on Wednesday before somehow getting to the freezing south west coast in time - no mean feat considering 11 players had to withdraw having failed to travel in the conditions.

Nevertheless the snow and icy conditions had already claimed Thursday night's Premier League fixtures in Exeter and there were doubts until Friday morning whether the 'FA Cup of Darts' would be staged at all.

Although the first proper major of the season at Butlin’s Minehead Resort was eventually given the all clear, the opening day's play was behind closed doors with no spectators allowed while the Main Stage games were moved to the smaller Red's Bar.

This robbed Darth Maple of a popular return in front of a big crowd while it was perhaps an even bigger disappointment to the 32 amateur players who booked their UK Open spots from the Rileys Qualifying events up and down the country over the past month.

The Canadian played two of those players during the afternoon - first defeating John Morris, a stone mason from Wolverhampton, 6-2 before thrashing Paul Whitworth 6-0.

A confident Part came back out for the evening session knowing just one more win would see him reach the weekend and he did so in emphatic fashion by putting Dave Evans to the sword 10-2.

Basingstoke-based delivery driver Paul Hogan was the best-performing Rileys Amateur Qualifier for a second successive year, as he defeated Darren Brown and Paul Nicholson to win through to the last 32.

The other three Rileys Amateur Qualifiers who won through to the third round, Harry Ward, David Airey and Darryl Pilgrim, all saw their runs in Minehead ended with losses to Chris Dobey, Jason Lowe and Steve West respectively.

Scroll down for the day's results and fourth-round draw

UK Open : Latest draws & results

Fourth Round (to be played Saturday - click here for UK Open schedule)

Paul Hogan v Jeffrey de Zwaan
Rob Cross v Kyle Anderson
John Part v Ron Meulenkamp
Robert Owen v Nathan Rafferty
Chris Dobey v Jason Lowe
Keegan Brown v Krzysztof Ratajski
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Gerwyn Price
Steve West v Matthew Edgar
Gary Anderson v Ricky Evans
Stephen Bunting v Jermaine Wattimena
Mervyn King v Jonny Clayton
Corey Cadby v Martin Schindler
Jamie Hughes v Ian White
Daryl Gurney v Kim Huybrechts
Ryan Meikle v Michael Smith
David Pallett v James Wade

Third Round

Jason Lowe 10-3 David Airey
John Part 10-2 Dave Evans
David Pallett 10-8 Robert Thornton
Ricky Evans 10-6 Luke Humphries
Jermaine Wattimena 10-8 Steve Beaton
Robert Owen 10-2 Jamie Lewis
Kim Huybrechts 10-8 Gabriel Clemens
Steve West 10-9 Darryl Pilgrim
Krzysztof Ratajski 10-7 Darren Webster
James Wade 10-6 Simon Stevenson
Nathan Rafferty 10-9 Peter Wright
Chris Dobey 10-2 Harry Ward
Matthew Edgar 10-4 John Henderson
Paul Hogan 10-6 Paul Nicholson
Jeffrey de Zwaan 10-8 Michael van Gerwen
Gary Anderson 10-3 Robert Rickwood
Michael Smith 10-5 Kirk Shepherd
Ian White 10-7 Simon Whitlock
Mervyn King 10-4 Raymond van Barneveld
Rob Cross 10-8 Nathan Aspinall
Daryl Gurney 10-9 Jelle Klaasen
Martin Schindler 10-7 Ryan Harrington
Dirk van Duijvenbode 10-5 Adrian Lewis
Gerwyn Price 10-6 Alex Roy
Stephen Bunting 10-3 Justin Pipe
Ryan Meikle 10-6 Dave Chisnall
Jonny Clayton 10-6 Michael Barnard
Ron Meulenkamp 10-4 Dave Prins
Kyle Anderson 10-7 Vincent van der Voort
Keegan Brown 10-8 Joe Cullen
Corey Cadby 10-5 Michael Rasztovits
Jamie Hughes BYE

Second Round

Alex Roy 6-4 Toni Alcinas
Gerwyn Price 6-2 James Wilson
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Alan Norris
Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Mike Norton
Vincent van der Voort 6-3 Martin Biggs
Paul Nicholson 6-5 Richard North
David Evans 6-4 Benito van de Pas
Chris Dobey 6-5 Lee Evans
Paul Hogan Bye (John Goldie withdrew)
Ryan Harrington 6-3 Danny Noppert
David Airey 6-1 Stuart Kellett
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Rene Eidams
Kirk Shepherd 6-3 Vincent Kamphuis
Nathan Rafferty 6-3 Jason Mold
Robert Owen 6-4 Michael Burgoine
Jermaine Wattimena 6-0 Andy Hamilton
Luke Humphries 6-3 Wayne Jones
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Bradley Brooks
Joe Cullen 6-2 Jose Justicia
Keegan Brown 6-3 George Killington
Gabriel Clemens 6-0 Andrew Gilding
Jason Lowe 6-4 John Scott
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Andrew Pullen
Ricky Evans 6-2 Carl Wilkinson
Michael Barnard 6-2 Cody Harris
Ron Meulenkamp 6-1 Joe Davis
John Part 6-0 Paul Whitworth
Harry Ward 6-1 Ted Evetts
Michael Rasztovits Bye (Maik Langendorf withdrew)
Ryan Meikle 6-4 Mark Craddock
Robert Rickwood 6-0 James Richardson
Darryl Pilgrim 6-4 Geert Nentjes

First Round

Paul Nicholson 6-5 Terry Jenkins
Ryan Harrington 6-5 Richie Burnett
Lee Evans 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
John Part 6-2 John Morris
Alex Roy 6-2 Mark Walsh
Michael Burgoine Bye (Andrew Davidson withdrew)
Rene Eidams 6-4 Andrew Johnson
Michael Barnard Bye (Scott Robertson withdrew)
Bradley Brooks 6-4 Chris Quantock
Benito van de Pas 6-5 Cristo Reyes
Andrew Pullen Bye (Mark Rice withdrew)
Michael Rasztovits 6-3 Simon Tate
Luke Humphries 6-0 Liam Kelly
Robert Rickwood Bye (Rene Berndt withdrew)
Dirk van Duijvenbode Bye (Mick McGowan withdrew)
Harry Ward 6-0 Daniel Lee
Kirk Shepherd 6-4 Adam Hunt
Ryan Meikle 6-5 Mickey Mansell
Darryl Pilgrim 6-2 Ian Jopling
Joe Davis 6-5 Dan Read
David Airey 6-4 Benjamin McClelland
Martin Biggs Bye (Chris Lacey withdrew)
Ricky Evans 6-1 Andreas Hajiminia
Cody Harris 6-1 Tony Mitchell
Mark Craddock Bye (Craig Winstanley withdrew)
Andy Hamilton Bye (William O'Connor withdrew)
Paul Whitworth 6-3 Martin Atkins
Paul Hogan 6-5 Darren Brown
Ron Meulenkamp 6-4 Andy Hibbert
George Killington 6-4 Andy Jenkins
Jason Mold 6-5 Prakash Jiwa
John Scott 6-4 Darren Johnson

UK Open Darts: Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright crash out on day one but John Part storms through on his dream return

UK Open : Latest draws & results

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