Lovable Liverpudlian Stephen Bunting is through his World Championship opener — though he very nearly turned a routine evening into a heart-rate stress test for his entire Bunting Army. The Bullet started exactly as advertised: rapid, ruthless and utterly unforgiving.
The opening set was dismantled at speed, the second followed shortly after, and at 2–0 up it looked like Bunting was about to clock off early and be heading to St Helens in a matter of minutes.
Then… something happened. Or rather, something stopped happening. Bialecki didn’t so much get invited back into the match as kick the door off its hinges. The Pole seized the momentum, grabbed set three, then levelled the contest and suddenly Ally Pally had that unmistakable hum of danger in the air. When Bialecki edged 2–1 ahead in the deciding set, thousands of Scouse hearts collectively skipped a beat.
Somehow — and it really was somehow — Bunting found the spark again. He fanned the dying embers, rediscovered his timing, and ripped off three legs on the spin to escape an ambush that had been gathering teeth for the best part of an hour. Relief washed over the Palace. Survival secured. Next stop: India’s history-maker Nitin Kumar in round two.
While Merseyside breathed again, Belgium sank deeper into a tournament-shaped nightmare. Dimitri Van den Bergh, the nation’s most decorated son, was ushered out in comprehensive fashion by debutant Darren Beveridge, making it three losses from three for the Belgians — and this one hurt the most.
Not just because of the scoreline, but because of the performance.The former Matchplay and UK Open Champ arrived on stage with the usual energy, the trademark walk-on fizzing with promise. Unfortunately, once the music faded, so did the darts. Scoring never clicked. Doubles deserted him. And with just one successful checkout from seventeen attempts, it was a long, uncomfortable watch for anyone hoping for a revival.
Beveridge, to his immense credit, was superb. Calm, composed and entirely unfazed by the occasion, the Scot fully deserved his moment and now earns himself a round two meeting with Madars Razma. Van den Bergh, meanwhile, exits with more questions than answers after averaging just 80 — numbers that tell a brutal story.
From a Dreammaker’s nightmare to an American Neon one. Stowe Buntz — darts’ answer to a glow-stick convention — lit up the stage in every way except the scoreboard. Costume-wise, he could give Peter Wright a run for his money, but James Hurrell proved far less interested in the light show than the job at hand.
The opening two sets were traded evenly, punches exchanged, neither blinking. The third proved decisive, Hurrell nicking it at exactly the right moment. Buntz had a golden chance to drag things into a decider, racing 2–0 clear in set four, but Hurrell — the Hillbilly — dug deep, clawed it back, and shut the door firmly on the American dream.
Earlier in the evening, Wesley Plaisier set the tone with a polished, professional dismissal of Lukas Wenig, silencing a vocal German contingent in the process. The Dutchman barely missed in the opening set, surrendered the second by the finest of margins, then pinched the third at the death before cruising home shortly after. The reward? A mouth-watering potential clash with former world champion Gerwyn Price — assuming the Iceman negotiates Adam Gawlas first.
Another box ticked. Another batch of stories written. Another reminder that at Ally Pally, nothing is given — it’s taken. And with the opening weekend now in the books, the World Championship machine is very much up to speed.
Sunday 14th December – Evening Session Results
Wesley Plaisier 3-1 Lukas Wenig (3-0, 2-3, 3-2, 3-1)
Darren Beveridge 3-0 Dimitri Van den Bergh (3-0, 3-1, 3-0)
Stephen Bunting 3-2 Sebastian Bialecki (3-1, 3-1, 0-3, 1-3, 4-2)
James Hurrell 3-1 Stowe Buntz (3-2, 1-3, 3-1, 3-2)
—–Ends—–
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