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WINMAU Michael van Gerwen MvG Sets available with Dartboards, Cabinets, Surrounds, Darts and Accessories

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It’s still been a great tournament for Van Gerwen, who played his best darts in maybe five years, but in the end he met somebody who could live with his scoring and even surpass it. Smith wasn’t always at his best in this tournament – he was 3-1 down to Martin Schindler in the last 32 – but he peaked when it mattered. The continued rise of darts has been escalated by Van Gerwen’s colourful emergence – and his compelling rivalry with Taylor. “Darts gets bigger every year,” he says. “It’s really popular in Holland and, after football, it’s our most-watched sport. It’s the same in Britain and it’s amazing Sky are having their own darts channel for the world championships. That shows how popular darts has become. So I get stopped all the time now. Everyone notices me, the green shirt and my bald head. Daphne’s a hairdresser and of course she can’t do anything with me. But that doesn’t matter because it’s become like my brand.” The young Dutchman missed three darts for a whitewash win on debut, before spurning a further three opportunities in a dramatic decider as Searle completed an unlikely turnaround. He only dipped fractionally below 90 once in a 2-0 win over Gary Anderson while he came agonisingly close to posting his fifth World Grand Prix 100+ average ever during an absolute masterclass against Chris Dobey.

World number one Smith and Welsh star Price will take centre stage on Monday night, with Smith up against Newcastle’s Callan Rydz, while Price faces 2021 semi-finalist Danny Noppert.Players ranked in the world's top 32 join the competition at this point, along with the 32 who have come through the previous three rounds. Aspinall missed four match darts in a deciding leg against Callan Rydz and Lewis squandered a 6-2 lead over Ryan Searle, both in round four, while Van Barneveld fluffed eight match darts against William Borland in round three. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't feeling 100 per cent," said Van Gerwen. "If I thought I couldn't really compete at 100 per cent, there's no point being here."

MVG takes five darts to get away and fails to record a 100+ score in his next four visits as Aspinall breaks with a 17-darter to force a deciding leg in this set. He now has the darts! Buntz took out 137 for a 2-0 lead and then stole the third leg when Wright missed two darts at double, before the Scot reduced the arrears by at last getting on the board. The real key to all this has been his doubling at both ends of the leg - but particularly at the start. His double-in percentage of 46% is far superior to Nathan Aspinall's 38.24% and if there's a big discrepancy on that metric tonight then it could well be one-way traffic. World No 1 and world champion Gerwyn Price tops the seeds, with two-time champion Van Gerwen seeded third and defending champion Dimitri Van den Bergh seeded eighth.

He says: “I didn’t want to lose that one. I had a big lead but then you start looking at the trophy and that’s the worst thing … but I pulled it out at the right time. That was my sweetest moment in life. Nothing beats becoming world champion unless, maybe, you do it a second or third time. I would love to catch Phil but it’s not going to happen. 16 world titles is amazing. I’m trying to win 10 but there are so many good players. When Phil was on top he was so above everyone else. Now, it’s much more competitive.” Van Gerwen continues his march towards a sixth World Grand Prix title as four successive 100+ visits leaves him 56, which he takes out on tops to go 3-0 up in sets. Only three legs so far have been won in over 15 legs by either player. Incredible standard! THEY’RE BOTH ON A NINE-DARTER AFTER SIX DARTS! I can’t keep up with this, it’s ridiculous. MvG misses D12 for a nine – and then Smith takes out T20, T19 and finally, gloriously, D12. What a leg! What a sport! What a pair of geniuses! Tuesday’s action will also see Clayton open his challenge against European Champion Ross Smith, as the Welshman aims to put a tumultuous few months behind him at the Morningside Arena. Jonny Clayton (Taylor Lanning/PDC) The first round of the multi-board event features Tour Card Holders 97-127 along with 16 Rileys Amateur Qualifiers and 16 players from the Challenge tour and Development Tour. Round two will contain the winners from round one along with Tour Card Holders 65-96. Round three features the winners from round two along with Tour Card Holders 33-64.

Luke is a good player. I helped him qualify last week by beating Scott Williams [in Budapest], but I’m just going to relax and play the board, not the player.” South Africa's Devon Petersen, Australia's Damon Heta, World Grand Prix runner-up Dirk van Duijvenbode, Ross Smith and two-time world youth champion Luke Humphries are also in line for their first taste of the iconic Winter Gardens when play gets going - with all the action live on Sky Sports. Van Gerwen was also full of praise for Aspinall's return from a serious wrist injury which kept him sidelined for six weeks at the start of 2022.

Nathan Aspinall 3-5 Michael van Gerwen: Leg-by-leg report, statistics and highlights

Elsewhere, two-time runner-up Dave Chisnall begins his bid against debutant Luke Woodhouse, having warmed up for this year’s event by winning two ranking titles within the last week.

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