MVG Into Round 3

Michael van Gerwen breezed through to the third round on Day Seven of the Cazoo World Darts Championship as Alexandra Palace action continued.

Three-time World Champion Van Gerwen laid down a marker with a 3-0 demolition of Lewy Williams, while Rock continued his debut run with a straight sets win over Callan Rydz.

Third seed Van Gerwen spent less than 20 minutes on the oche in his triumph over Welsh youngster Williams.

After dropping his only leg of the match in the first set, Van Gerwen went through the gears, averaging an incredible 125 in set two with legs of 13, 12 and 11 darts.

The three-time World Champion ended the match with a 101.84 average, his 34th ton-plus average on the Alexandra Palace stage, to lay down a marker for his rivals.

“It wasn’t perfect but I think I played quite well,” said Van Gerwen, the pre-tournament favourite.

“I had to work hard for it, a performance like this doesn’t come from nothing. It gives me a lot of pleasure to be back on this stage, Ally Pally has a special place in my heart.

“To receive such an amazing reception from the crowd means a lot to me.

“I’m always trying to play darts at the highest level I possibly can; I know what I’m capable of.”

Thursday will see a double session of second round action take place, as Dirk van Duijvenbode begins his campaign against Karel Sedlacek in the afternoon.

The evening session will see two-time World Champion Gary Anderson take on Madars Razma, with James Wade and Luke Humphries also among the players in action.

The Cazoo World Darts Championship is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK & Ireland, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).

Click here for match stats and results.

2022/23 Cazoo World Darts Championship
Wednesday December 21
Afternoon Session
2x First Round, 2x Second Round
Darius Labanauskas 3-2 John O’Shea (2-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-1) (R1)
Martijn Kleermaker 3-0 Xicheng Han (3-0, 3-1, 3-1) (R1)
Josh Rock 3-0 Callan Rydz (3-2, 3-1, 3-1) (R2)
Dave Chisnall 3-1 Andrew Gilding (0-3, 3-0, 3-2, 3-2) (R2)

Evening Session
4x Second Round
Mervyn King 3-2 Danny Baggish (3-2, 3-2, 2-3, 2-3, 3-1) (R2)
Gabriel Clemens 3-0 William O‘Connor (3-2, 3-2, 3-0) (R2)
Michael van Gerwen 3-0 Lewy Williams (3-1, 3-0, 3-0) (R2)
Stephen Bunting 3-1 Leonard Gates (2-3, 3-1, 3-1, 3-1) (R2)

Thursday December 22
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
4x Second Round
Krzysztof Ratajski v Danny Jansen (R2)
Ryan Searle v Adam Gawlas (R2)
Mensur Suljovic v Mike De Decker (R2)
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Karel Sedlacek (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)
4x Second Round
Gary Anderson v Madars Razma (R2)
James Wade v Jim Williams (R2)
Luke Humphries v Florian Hempel (R2)
Vincent van der Voort v Cameron Menzies (R2)

All second round matches best of five sets

—–ENDS—–

Images: Simon O’Connor/PDC.

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