Darts results: Rob Cross crashes out to Kirk Shepherd at Danish Darts Open

By Sporting Life

Darts

Sat June 15, 2019 · 5y ago

Rob Cross suffered a surprise exit on day two of the Danish Darts Open as he crashed out to Kirk Shepherd in Copenhagen.

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In the absence of Michael van Gerwen, the former world champion and 2019 Premier League runner-up was favourite to claim his first title of the season this weekend but fell at his first hurdle.

Shepherd, who overcame Vincent van der Voort on Friday night, stormed into a 3-0 lead thanks to checkouts of 81 and 78 before an out-of-sorts Voltage finally got on the board when a finish from 94 completed an impressive 11-darter.

However, the 2008 World Championship runner-up kept his nose in front and even Cross' second 11-darter of the match in the ninth leg didn't cause him to falter as he kept his cool to triumph 6-4.

It's the first time Shepherd, 32, has reached the final day of a European Tour event in a career, which was given a new lease of life when winning back his PDC Tour card back in January.

"I'm absolutely delighted. Rob let me off the hook but that's not my fault, and now I've beaten a World Champion," said Shepherd.

"This is the furthest I've ever got on the European Tour and I'm really enjoying it so let's see if I can keep it going tomorrow."

Ian White is bidding for a third successive European Tour title having made it back-to-back titles by beating MVG at the Dutch Darts Masters but he had to survive a match dart when battling back from 5-3 down to defeat Martin Schindler.

Diamond averaged slightly less than his German opponent with 93 and missed 15 darts at doubles so there's plenty of room for improvement ahead of Sunday's third-round clash with Jermaine Wattimena, who saw off Michael Smith 6-4.

Defending champion Mensur Suljovic only missed three darts at a double as he edged out Gabriel Clemens 6-5 and he'll next Dave Chisnall after the St Helens man reeled off five legs on the trot to defeat Krzysztof Ratajski.

Peter Wright missed just two darts at double in a comfortable 6-2 triumph over William O'Connor in a replay of last weekend's World Cup Final singles tie.

James Wade landed three ton-plus checkouts as he fought back from 3-1 down to overcome Sweden's Dennis Nilsson 6-3 while Adrian Lewis also produced a fine comeback in Copenhagen, overturning a 4-2 deficit to beat Kyle Anderson 6-4.

Last year's runner-up Simon Whitlock began his quest to go one better in 2019 by winning the last three legs of his match with UK Open Champion Nathan Aspinall to come out on top 6-4.

Joe Cullen ended his six-week wait for a PDC win with a thumping 6-1 victory over Kevin Burness.

German Darts Championship winner Daryl Gurney laid down a marker by posting a 100.9 average in a convincing 6-1 destruction of Ryan Joyce.

Stephen Bunting edged out New Zealander Cody Harris 6-4 to become the first player through to the last 16.

A thrilling contest between Darren Webster and Portugal's Jose de Sousa saw Webster miss a dart at the bullseye to complete what would've been a miraculous comeback from 5-1 down.

European Tour debutant De Sousa then stepped in to find the winning double at the ninth attempt to finally run out a 6-5 victor.

Jonny Clayton showed incredible mental strength to defy the partisan Copenhagen crowd, taking the last two legs to run out a 6-5 winner over Danish stalwart Per Laursen.

Chris Dobey survived two match-darts to defeat Ricky Evans 6-5 after Evans fought back from 4-1 down.