Darts results: Peter Wright suffers shock exit to Ryan Joyce in opening round of World Grand Prix

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Peter Wright's hopes of winning his first World Grand Prix title were ended at the first hurdle as Ryan Joyce caused a huge upset with a superb performance on his tournament debut.

The world champion arrived at the Ricoh Arena as second favourite behind Michael van Gerwen but crashed out in the opening round for the fifth time in his nine appearances at the double-start major.

Indeed, the unique format has thrown up countless surprise results down the years - especially when the matches are as short as best-of-three sets - and this one must be added to the list.

Snakebite was well below his best with an average of just 82 but that's to take nothing away from Joyce, whose stunning mark of 96.61 was in debt to his ruthless doubling at the end of legs.

The Geordie hit six of his eight attempts to finish during the 2-0 victory although he had to survive two set darts from Wright at 2-2 in the second before sealing his place in the second round.

Joyce, who had fallen out of form since winning his maiden PDC title during the Summer Series, even won a leg in 14 darts when the 50-year-old had yet to pin a starting double.

"I'm very happy with that. I've been so excited to play in this event because it plays to my strengths with the double-start format," Joyce told www.pdc.tv.

"I'm good at finishing but not quite as good at scoring and I'm so confident at hitting doubles, and I love double 16. Peter's scoring is fabulous when he gets going, so I always had it in the back of my mind that I had to hit the double if I got the chance.

"Getting to the quarter-finals of the World Championship on my debut was great but this is probably the most comfortable I've felt on stage.

"Since the World Championship, almost two years ago, I've had a bad run in TV tournaments so this is massive for me. I can't wait for the next game now and I'm really confident."

Third seed Gerwyn Price avoided the same fate as Wright after he overcame a slow start to run out a straight sets winner over Jermaine Wattimena.

The two-time Grand Slam of Darts champion, who recently won three PDC titles in a row including the Word Series in Austria, found himself 2-0 down in the opening set but he finally get off the mark with a 23-dart leg before a 118 checkout forced a decider.

A classy 16-darter put him in firm control of the contest before edging the next 3-2 to complete his victory.

Price averaged just 84 compared to Wattimena's 79 and while he hit four 180s, he spurned 10 of his 16 darts at finishing doubles.

The Welshman's victory means he's just one of two seeded players left in the competition alongside MVG, who survived a last-leg decider against Krzysztof Ratajski on Monday.

"I'm pleased to be through but I didn't play my best," Price admitted. "I couldn't get off. If you give me one dart at a double at the end of a leg then I seem to take it, but I'm useless with three in my hand!

"I've got to improve that in the next round. I put myself under a lot of pressure because you need to get off and you need to finish, but I scored ok when I did get going."

Sixth seed Nathan Aspinall and seventh seed Daryl Gurney both followed Wright, Michael Smith, Rob Cross and James Wade out of the competition after losing to Gabriel Clemens and Joe Cullen respectively.

Aspinall never got going against the German and after dropping the opening set 3-1, he then spurned a dart at tops to force a decider in the second.

Both players averaged 86 but the Stockport man will be fuming that he let Clemens get away with missing 17 darts at finishing doubles as he missed seven of his own.

Gurney was able to take his entertaining clash with Cullen to a third set after the Rockstar missed a match dart to wrap up a 2-0 win.

The 2017 champion then got his nose in front only for Cullen to respond with a superb 12-darter before edging into a 2-1 lead.

However, despite averaging 10 points less with 82, the battling SuperChin held his nerve to pin tops when his opponent waiting on the same score to take it all the way - but he would ultimately come up short at the death.

"I played well in the first set and I thought I was okay in the second but Daryl ground it out. It was a good last leg, whether it was double start or not," said Cullen.

"Daryl's class, he's a Premier League player and you don't expect to get everything your own way. He wasn't at his best on the starting doubles.

"We're all here to win it. Beating a former champion like Daryl is great. I've got the game to beat Michael van Gerwen, like the world number 90 has, but their B-game is better than us mere mortals. If I play well, I take some stopping."

Dave Chisnall produced the best performance so far as he recorded just the 15th 100+ average in the tournament's history during his 2-0 victory over a lacklustre Glen Durrant.

Chizzy, who has a superb record in his double-start event having reached the final on two occasions, averaged 102.85 in a performance that was aided by three 180s and no opening visits of zero.

His doubling at the end of legs wasn't particularly sparkling, with six hit from 16 attempts, but it was more than enough to beat the 2019 semi-finalist, who only managed one score of 140 or more, averaged 78 and only had two shots at a finishing double, hitting one of them.

Jonny Clayton claimed his first World Grand Prix victory at the third attempt as he beat Ian White 2-1.

The opening two sets were shared by 3-1 scorelines before Clayton finished the match in style with a 106 checkout after White missed a dart at double 10 to force a deciding leg.

Simon Whitlock, who came into the tournament at the 11th hour after Adrian Lewis tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, made the most of his wildcard by thrashing Chris Dobey 2-0 for the loss of just one leg.

The Wizard emulated Chizzy by recording the 16th 100+ average in World Grand Prix history with a mark of 101.12 as his opponent managed just 77.

Whitlock hit two of the three 180s in the match and also pinned 50% of his finishing doubles.

Jeffrey de Zwaan reached the second round for the third year running as he overcame Jamie Hughes 2-1.

The Dutchman, who was also a late replacement for Stephen Bunting, raced through the deciding set 3-0 thanks to finishes of 90, 136 and 72.

Kim Huybrechts won the opening match of the night as he beat former runner-up Brendan Dolan 2-1.

The Belgian's average of 86.91 was inferior to his opponent's 91.32 but after he edged the deciding leg of the second set, he powered through the third 3-1.

World Grand Prix: Wednesday results & Thursday schedule

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

• Brendan Dolan 1-2 Kim Huybrechts
• Jonny Clayton 2-1 Ian White
• Dave Chisnall 2-0 Glen Durrant
• Daryl Gurney 1-2 Joe Cullen
• Peter Wright 0-2 Ryan Joyce
• Gerwyn Price 2-0 Jermaine Wattimena
• Nathan Aspinall 0-2 Gabriel Clemens
• Simon Whitlock 2-0 Chris Dobey
• Jamie Hughes 1-2 Jeffrey De Zwaan

Thursday October 8 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of five sets)

• Dimitri Van den Bergh v Dirk van Duijvenbode
• Mervyn King v Simon Whitlock
• Gary Anderson v Danny Noppert
• Michael van Gerwen v Devon Petersen

Friday October 9 (7pm)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of five sets)

• Gabriel Clemens v Jeffrey de Zwaan
• Joe Cullen v Jonny Clayton
• Ryan Joyce v Dave Chisnall
• Gerwyn Price v Kim Huybrechts

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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