A nervous Nathan Aspinall cruised through his opening match at the World Darts Championship, edging past Leonard Gates on the same night Christian Kist hit a nine-darter in the event.
Aspinall, who suffered a crushing defeat at the same stage last year, narrowly avoided an upset this time around, preserving their post-Christmas progress with a 3-1 victory.
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Watch Nathan Aspinall's 3-1 win over Leonard Gates in their second round World Darts Championship match
Gates, who beat Cameron Menzies on a tear in his first match on Monday, showed flashes of brilliance over the opening two shared sets before Aspinall finally came clear.
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Check out the best of the action from night four of the World Darts Championship
The American checked 106 for a break of throw in the first set, only for Aspinall to be immediately bettered with 114 in the following leg to take the opener.
But the 12th seed was very poor in losing the second set, averaging less than 80. Despite such a struggle, he would have two shafts at the top for a two-set lead but would flow a lines while Gates would move things up.
Aspinall improved slightly over the final two sets but survived some nervy moments along the way, including forcing a couple of match points as Gates threatened to take a set – will stop forcing.
The two-time semi-finalist will know he needs to play much better if he is to have another deep run at Alexandra Palace.
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Who had the better chance of walking between Aspinall and Gates before their match in the second round of the World Darts Championship?
Kist makes an amazing nine darter but misses
Kist's nine darter was his 15th ever at the Worlds and the first since Michael Smith's famous “I can't speak” perfect leg in the 2023 final.
The Dutchman, however, could not shake off his incredible timing to win the first set as his opponent Madar Razma he kept his cool and won the next three sets in style to set up a match against Dirk van Duijvenbode.
Kist wins £60,000 for his nine-darter though, as does one lucky fan in the Ally Pally crowd, with tournament sponsors Paddy Power also donating £60,000 to Prostate Cancer until the mark this time.
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'Rapid' Ricky Evans wins 3-2 against Gordon Mathers in their first round of the World Darts Championship
Ricky Evans he was far from 'quick' better when he made hard work of his opening match against Gordon Mathers, forced into a final decision.
Evans got a last-gasp win to set up a second-round shocker with sixth seed Dave Chisnall when he produced a 109, the first plus finish in an otherwise slow-paced encounter.
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Evans gets the crowd going with a rendition of 'Merry Christmas everyone' for a very festive round
In the opening match of the night, Jim Williams lost five match points en route to losing 3-2 in his first round match. Paolo Nebrida.
Making matters worse for the Welshman, he also missed three shots to take the opening set en route. Ross Smith awaits Nebrida in the next round.
What next?
It's another great day's action on Thursday, December 19 with the afternoon session returning, live on Sky Sports Darts from 12.30pm – read as follows: Chris Landman vs Lok Yin Lee, Callan Rydz vs Romeo Grbavac , Martin Lukeman vs. Nitin Kumar and 27th seed Gabriel Clemens in second round action against Robert Owen.
From 7pm, live on Sky Sports Darts, the evening session will be headlined by former world champion Michael Smith, the 2023 champion and second seed taking on Kevin Doets to close the night, while the three previous first round matches including Nick Kenny vs Stowe Buntz , Mensur Suljovic vs Matt Campbell and last year's semi-final Scott Williams vs Niko Springer.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch all the matches live until January 3 on Sky Sports' exclusive darts channel. Stream darts and more sports favorites with NOW.
