Merciless Mighty Mike sets the marker as third round begins
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Michael van Gerwen put in a peerless second round performance to reaffirm his PDC World Darts Championship credentials ahead of the third stage, which begins today.
MvG dynamited Darren ‘Demolition Man’ Webster for the loss of one leg, averaging a mind-boggling 109.23 per three darts thrown and hitting 12 of his 18 checkout attempts (66.67%).
He now sits comfortably atop the tournament charts on both figures and is just 1/8 to dispose of compatriot Raymond van Barneveld in his next instalment and 10/11 to win the tournament.
Barney, 5/1 to progress, came through 4-3 in a bizarre match against Steven Bunting (who hit 15 180’s), thanks to no fewer than five century-plus checkouts.
Elsewhere, there were battling victories for Vincent van der Voort, Michael Smith and Mensur Suljovic.
Only two-time world boss Adrian Lewis came close to emulating Van Gerwen’s performance levels, averaging 103.2 on the way to a 4-0 stroll past Andrew Gilding.
Scottish pair Peter Wright (the 2014 finalist) and reigning champion Gary Anderson both came through in comfortable fashion, winning 4-0 and 4-1 respectively.
Snakebite faces arguably the harder third round tie against Dave Chisnall, while the Flying Scotsman is 1/7 to oust the Van deer Voort this evening.
One darter convinced he has yet to show his best at Ally Pally is the sport’s monolith, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, who has been experimenting with his equipment during the first two rounds.
Despite this, he overcame Kevin Painter and looks forward to bringing his practice game onto the lime-lit oche at the next stage, where he will face either Meryvn King or Jelle Klaasen.
Their Anglo-Dutch shootout will conclude the second round this afternoon, with Klaasen the 1/2 favourite.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
