Luke Littler needed just 10 minutes to breeze into the second round of the Winmau World Masters on a night on which Jonny Clayton dazzled, Michael van Gerwen displayed a new look and Chris Dobey, Dave Chisnall and Gary Anderson were beaten.
Reigning PDC world champion Littler dropped just one leg as he swept 2023 WDF world champion Andy Baetens 3-0 to set up a last-16 clash with James Wade on Saturday after the latter defeated Mike De Decker 3-2 in a hard-fought opening game of the evening.
Littler was superb on his doubles at the start of his clash with Baetens, hitting his first four attempts before ending with a success rate of six from nine on the outer ring.
Nathan Aspinall also impressed, pinning six doubles out of eight and a tremendous 161 finish on the bull while sweeping Andrew Gilding 3-0 to secure a showdown with Chisnall’s conqueror Cameron Menzies, who beat his out-of-sorts opponent 3-1.
But the performance of the evening came from Clayton, who averaged 112.77 en route to defeating Martin Schindler 3-1 in a high-quality affair, earning one win for Wales after the nation’s ruby union side were trounced 43-0 by France in the Six Nations.
Clayton impresses as Van Den Bergh beats Anderson
Clayton will take on Ryan Searle in the next round after Heavy Metal saw off world No 10 Chris Dobey 3-1, breaking Hollywood twice in the fourth set after the first nine legs in the match had all gone to the player throwing first.
Michael van Gerwen ditched his customary green shirt for his opening match at the World Masters. (credit: ITV Sport)
Van Gerwen, meanwhile, recovered from missing a glut of darts to win the second set against qualifier Bradley Brooks by taking the next two to triumph 3-1 – while wearing a black and gold shirt as opposed to his customary green.
The Dutchman, beaten by Littler in the World Championship final a few weeks ago, wore a different-coloured top to mark five years with his sponsor.
Van Gerwen will take on Dimitri Van den Bergh next after the latter rebounded from losing the first set to Anderson – in which he bust his score in the opening leg – to win six legs in a row and prevail 3-1.
Van den Bergh reeled off four 14-darters on the trot before closing out the match with a 13-darter.
Friday’s World Masters results
- James Wade 3-2 Mike De Decker
- Dave Chisnall 1-3 Cameron Menzies
- Jonny Clayton 3-1 Martin Schindler
- Nathan Aspinall 3-0 Andrew Gilding
- Chris Dobey 1-3 Ryan Searle
- Luke Littler 3-0 Andy Baetens
- Michael van Gerwen 3-1 Bradley Brooks
- Gary Anderson 1-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Saturday’s last-16 fixtures (best of seven sets)
Afternoon session (from 12.45pm)
- William O’Connor vs Danny Noppert
- Damon Heta vs Gerwyn Price
- Stephen Bunting vs Peter Wright
- Luke Humphries vs Josh Rock
Evening session (from 7pm)
- Luke Littler vs James Wade
- Jonny Clayton vs Ryan Searle
- Michael van Gerwen vs Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Cameron Menzies vs Nathan Aspinall
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