Reigning Denmark Open monarch and fourth seed of fearsome repute, James Beeton, has thundered his way into the third round of this year’s WDF World Championship, after an afternoon in Frimley Green so dramatic it practically split the dusk Surrey skyline in two.
The Chester colossus was forced into mortal combat by Swedish titan Dennis Nilsson, a man whose reputation echoes through the Nordic tundra like a war horn. From the opening salvo, the match swung like a great pendulum of destiny. Beeton snatched the first set in a nerve-shredding decider, only for the 49-year-old ‘Strongman’ to retaliate with immediate vengeance. They repeated this dance of mutual destruction again, trading blows, sets and sanity, dragging the crowd into a frenzy of operatic tension.
Then came the moment. With Beeton leading 2-1 in legs and Nilsson prowling ominously on 12, the Englishman summoned the gods of tungsten themselves and obliterated the danger with a divine, irresistible, Shanghai finish that sent the Lakeside walls trembling and the youngster relieved. No further drama required. The drama had already exploded.
And now? The Englishman awaits a potential gladiatorial clash with young phenom Liam Maendl-Lawrance, provided the German prodigy survives the storming surge of New Zealand’s Caleb Hope, who earlier obliterated Darren Johnson in a merciless 3-0 whitewash. Hope, it appears, has brought more than optimism from the Southern Hemisphere — he has brought devastation.
But the Kiwis were not done shaking the earth. Ben Robb, a man built like a granite mountain and throwing like one too, dispatched Sweden’s Johan Engström 3-1, capping a catastrophic afternoon for Swedish tungsten. Robb now marches into a monumental showdown with former Lakeside king Neil Duff — a clash so combustible it should come with its own fire marshal.
The drama did not halt there, for the women took to the stage and delivered their own thunder. Czech warrior Jitka Cisarova sent yet another Swede to the canvas, outgunning Maud Jansson and earning herself a collision course with fifth seed Rhian O’Sullivan.
Then Welsh prodigy Eve Watson strolled onto the Lakeside stage with icy calm and departed with a scorching 2-0 victory over Australia’s Joanne Hadley, earning herself a deliciously dangerous second-round test against the legendary Aileen de Graaf.
Lakeside … let the evening’s fireworks begin.
—–ENDS—–
Images: Chris Sargeant / WDF
