A coffee-fuelled Damon Heta defied his body clock during the middle of the night in Perth to top his PDC Home Tour.
The Australian roofer, who earned his maiden PDC Tour Card at Qualifying School back in January, had to be wide awake for his first match at around 3am for his opening match against fellow newcomer Gary Blades but showed his nocturnal instincts by winning 5-0 and averaging 96 in the process.
Asked how he prepared for the evening and where he was playing from, the Heat said: "Four coffees and a Berocca! This is just another house that I've built and I'm in the games room. I've got the Mrs to put my dogs on lockdown the for night so we're not the only ones in lockdown!"
Heta, who stunned the darting world to defeat James Wade, Gary Anderson and Simon Whitlock and en route to beating Rob Cross in the televised Brisbane Darts Masters final last summer, added: "On my day I feel like I'm unbeatable for sure. I do see myself being up there with the very best and I'll give it 100% to get there. I know I've got a good life here (in Australia) but I'm pursuing my dream of becoming a top eight dart player in the world."
That victory had followed John Henderson's 5-4 triumph over Krzysztof Kciuk but the group favourite, ranked 31 in the world, subsequently suffered a crucial 5-3 defeat to Heta.
In an otherwise mediocre encounter in which both players averaged in the 80s, the 32-year-old took out 160 and also 121 on the bullseye in the eighth leg to take a giant step into the next round.
"I am stoked. I think I just woke up the whole household!" he said.
Heta just needed to win three legs in his final match against Kciuk to secure the group and although he did that to level the scores, it was the Pole who went on to pick up his second victory of the night having earlier beaten Blades 5-3.
Henderson then secured second place in the group with a 5-1 thumping of Blades in the final match of the evening.
Heta went to school with fellow Aussie Kyle Anderson and admits the advice he's got from him and Simon Whitlock helped him take the PDC Tour in his stride. He said: "The information I've got from Kyle Anderson and for him to show me the ropes has been 10 to none. For him not to live with family when he's in England must be so difficult so I'm luckier because I have my wife 100% of the time and I don't plan to have kids either."
Tonight's results were also good news for followers of our daily tips after Heta was backed to top the group at 7/4 while our other selection (Henderson v Heta to have over 7.5 legs, high checkout to be over 109.5 and over 3.5 total 180s) also came in at 7/2.
Demon Heta joins us all the way from Perth, Australia at 3am!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) May 3, 2020
A commendable effort before a dart is even thrown by the 32-year-old 👏#UnibetHomeTour pic.twitter.com/OfqEvTIRjo
Play begins at 1930 BST each night
Best of nine legs
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GROUP 17 - Saturday May 2
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GROUP 18 - Monday May 4
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