Gian van Veen finally broke his World Championship duck, edging past Cristo Reyes 3-1 at Alexandra Palace for his first win in three attempts. The world No.7 started strongly, taking the opening set with a 92.26 average and following up with a remarkable 107 average to lead 2-0. Reyes responded with a superb 167 checkout and fought back by breaking throw twice to claim the third set, but the fourth went the distance before Van Veen sealed victory on double 16. Van Veen described the win as relief after previous early exits at the tournament.
In one of the day’s biggest shocks, 12th seed Ross Smith became the first seeded casualty, squandering six match darts as debutant Andreas Harrysson, 50, from Sweden prevailed 3-2. Smith had been 2-1 up but failed to close out in the fourth amid an on-court wasp disruption; Harrysson then rattled off five consecutive legs to force a deciding set and finished the job in the fifth.
Ricky Evans produced a polished 3-0 win over Man Lok Leung. Evans warmed the crowd with a festive walk-on and a brilliant 134 checkout in the opening set. He withstood pressure in the second, and after Lok Leung forced a deciding leg in the third, Evans landed his 11th 140 of the match to leave 84 and then hit double 12 to finish.
Damon Heta recorded a 3-1 victory over Steve Lennon, featuring big finishes throughout. Heta opened with 144 and 110 checkouts, added a 100 finish to clinch the second set, conceded the third in a decider, then reeled off three straight legs to close out the match.
Former world champion Rob Cross dominated Cor Dekker 3-0 in the afternoon session, dropping only two legs and ending with the tournament’s first 170 ‘Big Fish’ checkout. Cross admitted he was a little edgy but said he had plenty of fire in the belly and expects to improve next round. Cross will meet Ian White, who recovered from two sets down to beat Mervyn King 3-2.
Neils Zonneveld booked a second-round tie with former champion Michael Smith after a 3-0 win over Haupai Puha. Ryan Searle also advanced with a 3-0 victory against Chris Landman and is set to face either Brendan Dolan or Tavis Dudeney.
Up next: Saturday’s afternoon session begins at 12.30pm live on Sky Sports Darts with Mario Vandenbogaerde facing David Davies, the winner to meet reigning champion Luke Littler. Also scheduled are Andrew Gilding v Cam Crabtree, Luke Woodhouse v Boris Krcmar and Gary Anderson starting his campaign against Adam Hunt. The evening session from 7pm is headlined by Luke Humphries. Jeffrey de Graaf meets Paul Lim and Wessel Nijman takes on Karel Sedlacek ahead of Humphries’ opener with Ted Evetts, and the night concludes with Gabriel Clemens v Alex Spellman.
Friday 12 December, Evening session results:
– Ross Smith 2-3 Andreas Harrysson
– Ricky Evans 3-0 Man Lok Leung
– Gian van Veen 3-1 Cristo Reyes
– Damon Heta 3-1 Steve Lennon
All matches are being shown live on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel through January 3.