Advertisement
Webster celebrates after beating Whitlock to book his place in round three. John Walton

The darts had its first big shock last night

Simon Whitlock and his magnificent beard are on their way home.

DOUBLE DEFENDING CHAMPION Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis romped into the third round of the PDC World Darts Championship on Friday night, but former runner-up Simon Whitlock was stunned by Darren Webster.

Lewis outclassed Joe Cullen, who had won his first match in this tournament at the seventh attempt in the previous round against Corey Cadby, and eased to a 4-0 victory.

The two-time world champion was too good, however, with Lewis racking up an impressive three-dart average of 102.65 and registering five 180s to set up a potential meeting with Raymond van Barneveld after Christmas.

Anderson was another whitewash winner, beating Andrew Gilding at Alexandra Palace.

Gilding was impressive when looking for doubles, hitting 80% of his checkouts, but they came few and far between as the champion moved through the gears.

Whitlock was unceremoniously dumped out by a brilliant Webster, who had a checkout percentage of 60% and averaged 104.64 in a surprise straight-set victory over the 2010 runner-up from Australia.

Michael Smith, the 11th seed, came up with 14 180s as he beat Mervyn King in a seven-leg thriller before Benito van de Pas ousted Terry Jenkins in another afternoon contest which ended 4-3, while Ian White ousted Jonny Clayton.

The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!

12 months of Irish sport: The many highs and lows of 2016

Author
View 7 comments
Close
7 Comments
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.