Darts results: Michael van Gerwen beats Adrian Lewis as Nathan Aspinall stuns Luke Humphries at the World Matchplay

The two-time champion was well below his best against his old rival Jackpot as both players averaged under 90 in a match that failed to live up to the billing on the sweltering Winter Gardens stage.

Van Gerwen, who has only played once since winning the Premier League title last month due to surgery on his throwing arm, still managed to battle to a 10-7 victory that owed much more to his clinical finishing of 43.5% than his mediocre scoring, while Lewis spurned 19 of his 26 attempts at doubles.

The Dutchman will next meet Joe Cullen next in a repeat of that Premier League Darts final and will need to improve his game to pull the plug on the Rockstar, who averaged 95.72 in a surprisingly easy 10-2 thrashing of the highly-fancied Damon Heta.

Cullen was actually the marginal underdog despite being the seeded player but Heta was well below the kind of form that has saw him win the World Cup with Simon Whitlock and produce a string of consistently high averages on the circuit.

Nathan Aspinall produced the performance of the tournament so far as he brushed aside Luke Humphries, who had been widely tipped to win his maiden major title in Blackpool.

Humphries had won five titles this season, including three on the European Tour, while he's ranked in the top five for all of the key statistics this season - average, 180s per leg and checkout percentage.

However, a fired up Asp took full control of the contest after opening up an early 4-1 lead and never looked back as he charged to a 10-5 victory with six 180s and a pair of 100+ checkouts, including a stunner from 143.

Afterwards he angrily said: "In all honesty, nobody gave me a chance and that really got on my nerves. A lot of people looked past me but I'm a good dart player. Luke is fantastic but I'm still a good player too. Nobody gave me a cat in hell's chance of winning this game and the motivation that gave me I can't describe. I've stuck two fingers up at everyone who said I'd get battered tonight. I'm still good at this game.

"I won a UK Open and reached the World Championship semi-finals twice. I'm playing really well at the moment and can still play fantastic darts. That's for all the doubters out there who thought I'd get battered.

"Luke was the one player in the draw I didn't want to get because he's been on fire. But he didn't turn up tonight and the crowd helped me through."

AFTERNOON SESSION

Michael Smith survived a scare from Andrew Gilding on day two of the World Matchplay as Gary Anderson crashes out to Daryl Gurney in Blackpool.

Cullen, who won the Masters at the start of 2022, was in good form during a 10-2 thrashing of Damon Heta where he produced a 160 checkout.

Bully Boy is one of the favourites to end his wait for a maiden major trophy but looked up against it at the Winter Gardens when trailing Goldfinger 8-4 but eventually found his form to win five lets on the spin to edge 9-8 ahead.

Smith was then punished for missing a match dart at double five as an absorbing encounter reached a tie-break situation and had to maintain his momentum to complete an 11-9 triumph.

Former World Matchplay champion Anderson went down 10-7 to Daryl Gurney.

The Flying Scotsman, who lifted the Phil Taylor Trophy in 2018 and was runner up in 2020, has been struggling to find his best form all season and again only showed a few flashes of brilliance against SuperChin.

Gurney, twice a World Matchplay semi-finalist, averaged 92.25 and kept his cool in the key moments to send Anderson packing.

A superb 134 checkout by 51-year-old Anderson reduced the deficit to 5-4 after a poor start but Gurney was able to win three legs in a row to take control.

Anderson took out 116 in the 15th leg to again pull within one of his rival at the Winter Gardens.

But Gurney showed his confidence to throw a no-look 180 during the final leg before he closed out the win.

UK Open winner Danny Noppert also progressed into the second round with a 10-6 victory over Brendan Dolan.

His Dutch compatriot Dirk van Duijvenbode won as well after he beat Ryan Searle 10-8 in a thrilling affair.

World Matchplay: Day two results and Monday schedule

Sunday July 17
Afternoon Session (1300 BST)
First Round (best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: Sky Sports

• Dirk van Duijvenbode 10-8 Ryan Searle
• Danny Noppert 10-6 Brendan Dolan
• Gary Anderson 7-10 Daryl Gurney
• Michael Smith 11-9 Andrew Gilding

Evening Session (1930 BST)
First Round (best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: Sky Sports

• Joe Cullen 10-2 Damon Heta
• James Wade 10-4 Martin Lukeman
• Michael van Gerwen 10-7 Adrian Lewis
• Luke Humphries 5-10 Nathan Aspinall

Monday July 18 (1900 BST)
First Round (best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: Sky Sports

• Rob Cross v Chris Dobey
• Jose de Sousa v Gabriel Clemens
• Gerwyn Price v Martin Schindler
• Dave Chisnall v Kim Huybrechts

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