Darts results: Michael van Gerwen beats Krzysztof Ratajski in decider as Gary Anderson and Devon Petersen progress

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Michael van Gerwen produced an imperious display of double-start darts but still found himself embroiled in a rollercoaster first-round showdown with Krzysztof Ratajski.

It was a match that perfectly summed up the potential pitfalls and drama of the World Grand Prix, with its unique format often making a mockery of the averages.

The five-time champion, who is aiming to win this title for a third year in a row, headed to Coventry under intense pressure surrounding his form and confidence levels but he looked like the Mighty Mike of old as he averaged a stunning 110 during the first set which he won 3-0 with just 41 darts.

The world number one levelled the second set at 1-1 with a 12-dart completing 108 checkout but despite averaging 96 compared to Ratajski's 77, he ended up losing it 3-1 and suddenly momentum was changing.

Alarm bells were sounding even louder when the Van Gerwen spurned two darts at a finishing double in the opening leg of the decider and the Polish Eagle, who was seen celebrating the miss, made the most of it to break.

However, perhaps it was a case of Karma that Ratajski subsequently blew three clear darts at tops to move 2-0 up in the next leg before watching in horror as Van Gerwen brilliantly checked out from 103 to restore parity.

MVG followed that up with a 12-darter, which he finished off with an 82 finish, but the seven-time PDC event winner showed tremendous character to force a deciding leg of the match by finishing from 76.

However, Ratajski then took three darts to get away against the throw as van Gerwen powered to victory with a 15-darter.

MVG told www.pdc.tv: "It was really tough, you have to do something special against Krzysztof. He's a silent assassin. It's always going to be hard in the first round of a World Grand Prix with the short format.

"The third set I felt was slipping out of my hands and I thought 'this cannot happen'. I produced the 103 finish when I really needed it and that gives me huge confidence.

"The pressure is on my shoulders even more at the moment because I haven't showed my 'A game' in the last few months, so I'm proud of myself for how I played today."

Gary Anderson bid to win his first World Grand Prix title began with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Rob Cross.

The unique double-start major, which is usually played in front of a raucous crowd in Dublin, is one of the few majors missing from the Flying Scotsman's glittering career but he'll surely face tougher examinations than this should he go the distance.

Voltage, who had only managed one match victory during his past three World Grand Prix appearances, struggled with his doubling at both ends of the legs as he averaged just 77.

Anderson was below his best too but still averaged 89 and managed to pin six of his 15 darts to win legs as Cross spurned nine of his 12.

The Hastings man almost suffered the ignominy of still being on 501 by the time Anderson won the fifth leg of the first set, but he finally pinned double 18 with his last dart in hand to reduce his score to 465 before his opponent took out 103 to complete a 15-darter.

"The first set was absolutely fantastic. The darts felt like they were going great," said Anderson. "I've not spent a lot of time on the practice board since the Premier League so I'm pleased with how this went.

"It's a tournament I would love to win before I retire, but we'll see how we go. I just want to keep playing well and enjoy throwing again."

Devon Petersen maintained his hot streak of form with a 2-0 victory over fellow debutant Jose de Sousa and he'll next play MVG.

The African Warrior headed to the Ricoh Arena on the back of becoming his continent's first ever PDC champion thanks to his triumph at the German Darts Championship and is certainly one of the most popular outsiders in the betting this week.

Despite a lack of experience of this format, Petersen averaged an impressive 88 during his whitewash win over a dangerous opponent who struggled with his doubles at the traditional part of the game - the finishing.

The Portuguese star unleashed a barrage of eight 180s compared to Petersen's three but he only hit three of his 14 attempts to win legs.

He crucially spurned a dart at double 12 to force a deciding set when leading 2-1 before missing another at tops at 2-2 - and Petersen duly punished him.

"My smile couldn't be wider! I've been working hard since winning in Germany, and I felt like I was going to boss the game but Jose is an amazing player," said Petersen.

"I felt like I had to hang in there, and I capitalised on his mistakes. This win is just the start for me in this tournament. Now I've got this game out of the way I can show what I can do over the longer-format matches."

Michael Smith's miserable record in the World Grand Prix continued as he crashed out at the first hurdle to Dimitri Van den Bergh.

Bully Boy has now failed to get past the first round in six of his eight appearances, which have heralded just two match wins, although he didn't do too much wrong against the inspired World Matchplay champion.

Van den Bergh took the deciding leg of the first set with a sublime 11-darter that featured his first of two maximums while the second also went all the way before he completed a 2-0 victory with a stunning 132 checkout on the bullseye.

Earlier in the night, Danny Noppert capitalised on Ryan Searle's collapse to run out a 2-1 winner.

Heavy Metal came flying out of the blocks on his debut as he averaged 107 during the first set which he took 3-0 thanks to finishes of 112 and 82 either side of a 13-darter.

Noppert responded in style with a 110 checkout after back-to-back 180s in the opening leg of the second set - and he went on to win it 3-0 without Searle getting a single chance to finish.

The Somerset man continued to struggled to make quick starts as Noppert punished him further to take the decider 3-1 with an average of 89 compared to his opponent's 82.

Mervyn King won his 50th career meeting with James Wade 2-0 as he knocked the Machine out of the event for the second year running.

The 2012 runner-up, who beat Wade 3-1 in the second round 12 months ago, has been in good form of late having reached the semi-finals of the German Darts Championship and he carried that into a format which he traditionally performs so well in.

King averaged 87 compared to Wade's 79 and made the most of his opponent's 12 missed darts at finishing doubles to win both sets by a 3-1 scoreline.

"It was our 50th meeting and it was 24 wins each with one draw, so I'm ahead now," said King. "I got off very well and scored okay. I grew up playing double-start darts so it's a format I'm comfortable with. I'm not here to make the numbers up, I'm here to win the tournament.

"I'm not the most consistent player in the world, but we're all capable of throwing a bad day and at the moment they're going really nicely."

There was a minor shock in the other match of the night as debutant Dirk van Duijvenbode overcame three-time semi-finalist Mensur Suljovic 2-1.

It was a very poor standard by all accounts, with both men averaging in the low 70s and missing 36 darts at finishing doubles between them - almost equally - while neither managed a single 180. In fact, a perfect match to play behind closed doors.

Due to Adrian Lewis and Stephen Bunting testing positive for Covid-19, seven matches were played on Tuesday, with nine to be played on Wednesday.

Chris Dobey will now play Simon Whitlock instead of Lewis, while Jeffrey de Zwaan comes in for Bunting to face Jamie Hughes.

World Grand Prix: Tuesday results & Wednesday schedule

Tuesday October 6 (7pm)
First Round (Best of three sets)

• Danny Noppert 2-1 Ryan Searle
• Mensur Suljovic 1-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
• Jose De Sousa 0-2 Devon Petersen
• James Wade 0-2 Mervyn King
• Rob Cross 0-2 Gary Anderson
• Michael van Gerwen 2-1 Krzysztof Ratajski
• Michael Smith 0-2 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Wednesday October 7 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
First Round (Best of three sets)

• Brendan Dolan v Kim Huybrechts
• Jonny Clayton v Ian White
• Dave Chisnall v Glen Durrant
• Daryl Gurney v Joe Cullen
• Peter Wright v Ryan Joyce
• Gerwyn Price v Jermaine Wattimena
• Nathan Aspinall v Gabriel Clemens
• Simon Whitlock v Chris Dobey
• Jamie Hughes v Jeffrey De Zwaan

Click here for full 2020 World Grand Prix draw and schedule

Related links

• 2020 World Grand Prix draw and schedule
• 2020 Premier League fixtures & results
• 2020 PDC event calendar & results
• 2020 World Darts Championship results
• 2019 PDC event results
• Sky Bet's darts odds

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