Thu. Sep 19th, 2024
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Nathan Aspinall
Nathan Aspinall (left) is ranked number 10 in the world

England’s Nathan Aspinall beat Boris Krcmar to progress to the third round of the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace.

Two-time semi-finalist Aspinall, 31, came through the tough second-round tie 3-1 against Croatian Krcmar.

He wrapped up the match in the fourth set on double 18 after scoring his 14th 140 of the game.

In the afternoon session, two-time world champion Adrian Lewis suffered a third successive early exit.

Lewis, who won at Alexandra Palace in 2011 and 2012, was beaten 3-0 by Australian number 20 seed Damon Heta.

It is the third year in a row in which the 37-year-old Englishman has been eliminated in round two.

Following his victory over Krcmar, world number 10 Aspinall told Sky Sports: “I never make it easy. I think I robbed the first set to be fair, but likewise, I think I deserved the second set.

“It’s the way that darts goes but credit to Boris – I’ll say that because he’s a big lad, isn’t he! I knew he was going to play better than his first game and he played a great game.”

In the first round matches, Belgian Mike de Decker defeated Canada’s Jeff Smith 3-1 to set up a tie with Mensur Suljovic of Austria, while England’s Scott Williams also won 3-1 against compatriot Ryan Joyce on his debut.

Williams, 32. delighted the crowd with his performance – which included 10 180s – and took the match with an 86 checkout in two darts. He will play Englishman Rob Cross in the second round.

Guam-born American Danny Baggish eased past Canadian Matt Campbell 3-0 and will take on England’s Mervyn King as his next opponent.

Earlier, Vladyslav Omelchenko made history by becoming the first Ukrainian to play at the Worlds, but was beaten 3-0 by England’s Luke Woodhouse.

Omelchenko, a former miner from Krivyi Rih, enjoyed some memorable moments, including the first 180 of the match and a 143 checkout in the third set.

However, Woodhouse pulled through and will now face top seed Gerwyn Price in round two.

There was also a win for Karel Sedlacek of the Czech Republic – his first Worlds victory in three attempts – who impressively beat Australia’s Raymond Smith 3-0. He plays 14th seed Dirk van Duijvenbode next.

Latvia’s Madars Razma progressed with a 3-1 victory over Prakash Jiwa of India, and faces 11th seed Gary Anderson in round two.

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