Gerwyn Price stormed into the second round of the PDC World Darts Championship with a commanding 3-0 victory over Adam Gawlas at Alexandra Palace on Tuesday. The former world champion hit six 180s and closed out the match with a 120 checkout, despite missing 17 of 26 doubles, finishing with a 96.44 average.
Price, who received strong crowd support, said: “I don’t usually get this, so thank you very much. The fans have been great for me the last 18 months, two years... Honestly, if I win the million, it’s not going to change my life, but I want to win trophies. As long these are where they are with me, I think I can win everything.” He will face Wesley Plaisier in the next round.
Danny Noppert recovered from a slow start to beat Jurjen van der Velde 3-1, despite van der Velde arriving on stage with insect spray after a wasp issue the previous day. Ricardo Pietreczko defeated José de Sousa 3-1, while Joe Comito upset Niko Springer 3-1. Chris Dobey shrugged off an early scare to beat Zong Xiaochen 3-1, and Scott Williams cruised past Paolo Nebrida 3-0.
In an epic opener, Alan Soutar survived a tense sudden-death leg against Finland’s Teemu Harju, missing 15 match darts before finally prevailing on double 16 at his 16th attempt. Harju had missed four match darts of his own in the deciding set.
