Champions League of Darts: Mensur Suljovic and Michael van Gerwen make perfect starts in Brighton

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• Click here for our day one blog including match-by-match stats & highlights

Defending champion Suljovic and world number one MVG both recorded two wins on the opening day of the BBC-televised tournament at The Brighton Centre, but Simon Whitlock and Dave Chisnall were the first to be eliminated.

Van Gerwen was at his relentless best, producing two ton-plus averages in his victories over Chisnall and Daryl Gurney in Group A as he bids to win the third staging of this tournament for the first time.

He faces Gary Anderson in his third group game but there is a slim chance he could still go out if he suffers a heavy defeat and Daryl Gurney is able to pick up a big win over Chizzy.

The Dutchman averaged 111.23 in his 10-2 demolition of Chisnall, missing just two darts at double and limiting his opponent to four darts at the outer ring.

Van Gerwen followed up his afternoon success by racing into a 5-0 lead over Gurney before the Northern Irishman battled back to 9-7 and then missed two darts to make it 8-9, only for Van Gerwen to punish his misses to wrap up a 10-7 win.

World Grand Prix champion Gurney had earlier got his campaign off to a terrific start with a 10-8 triumph over Gary Anderson.

A clinical performance from the world number five saw him hit 55.6% of his attempts at double and three ton-plus checkouts, including a magnificent 158 checkout.

However, Anderson's comfortable 10-3 win over Dave Chisnall during the evening session elevated the Scot to second in Group A heading into the second day of action, with Gurney also still in the mix to progress.

In Group B, Suljovic began the defence of his title with a hard-fought 10-8 win over world champion Rob Cross in the opening game of the tournament.

After a tense start, the Austrian found his stride in the second half of the contest to get his first two points on the board and followed that up with a 10-7 victory over Peter Wright, averaging 105.53 in the process.

World number two Wright staved off a comeback from Simon Whitlock to win 10-7 in their opening Group B tie which saw 13 180s hit, while Cross recovered from a disappointing start to the day to see off Whitlock 10-8.

With both Wright and Cross now tied on points and leg difference, their clash on Sunday afternoon will be a straight shoot-out to decide who will qualify from Group B alongside Suljovic.

Champions League of Darts results, schedule & tables

SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Group Stage Matches (Best of 19 legs)

• Rob Cross 8-10 Mensur Suljovic (B)
• Peter Wright 10-7 Simon Whitlock (B)
• Gary Anderson 8-10 Daryl Gurney (A)
• Michael van Gerwen 10-2 Dave Chisnall (A)

SATURDAY EVENING
Group Stage Matches (Best of 19 legs)

• Rob Cross 10-8 Simon Whitlock (B)
• Peter Wright 7-10 Mensur Suljovic (B)
• Gary Anderson 10-3 Dave Chisnall (A)
• Michael van Gerwen 10-7 Daryl Gurney (A)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, BBC 2, 1315-1630 BST
Group Stage (Best of 19 legs)

• Mensur Suljovic v Simon Whitlock (B)
• Rob Cross v Peter Wright (B)
• Daryl Gurney v Dave Chisnall (A)
• Gary Anderson v Michael van Gerwen (A)

SUNDAY EVENING, BBC 2, 1830-2200
Knockout Stages (Best of 21 legs)

• Semi-finals & Final

Click here for the latest Sky Bet odds

Group Standings

GROUP A

1. Michael van Gerwen P 2 W 2 L 0 LegDiff +11 Pts 4
2. Gary Anderson P 2 W 1 L 1 LegDiff +5 Pts 2
3. Daryl Gurney P 2 W 1 L 1 LegDiff -1 Pts 2
4. Dave Chisnall P 2 W 0 L 2 LegDiff -15 Pts 0

GROUP B

1. Mensur Suljovic P 2 W 2 L 0 LegDiff +5 Pts 4
2. Peter Wright P 2 W 1 L 2 LegDiff 0 Pts 2
3. Rob Cross P 2 W 1 L 1 LegDiff 0 Pts 2
4. Simon Whitlock P 2 W 0 L 2 LegDiff -5 Pts 0

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