Hollywood, Chris Dobey lived up to the billing on Tuesday afternoon – just not in the way he would have scripted it. Last year’s semi-finalist eventually came through as the curtain dropped on the afternoon session, but only after giving himself, the crowd, and probably his management team a mild cardiac episode. What should have been a routine opener turned into a lesson in how quickly confidence can leak out through the double ring.
Set one was an absolute breeze. Dobey cruised it, all swagger and smooth scoring, looking every inch the man who went deep here twelve months ago. And then… carnage. The Geordie completely misplaced the outer ring, missing it once in seventeen attempts. Not clipping the wire. Not rattling the bed. Just outright losing the postcode.
Xiao Chen Zong did not exactly turn into a checkout machine himself, but when your opponent offers you the keys, the car, and directions to the finish line, you take them. Three from eleven suddenly looked ruthlessly clinical. Game level. Ally Pally murmuring.
Thankfully for Dobey, the second interval worked wonders. The doubles returned, the shoulders dropped, and order was restored. He regained control in the third and did just enough in the fourth to keep a brave and dangerous Chinese challenger at arm’s length. No collapse. No headlines. Just survival – and a second-round meeting with Andrew Gilding waiting in the wings.
Over in dreamland, Justin Hood had no interest in drama whatsoever. The debutant produced a statement performance, whitewashing Nick Kenny in a display that screamed composure, confidence, and zero interest in easing himself into the tournament. Close to a ton average. Clean scoring. Ruthless when it mattered.
Kenny actually played very well – a 92.95 average and a remarkable 75 percent on the doubles – but four attempts is not exactly a long-term business plan. Hood, affectionately known as Happy Feet, burst out of the blocks, responded immediately when pressure came, and calmly saw the job through. Dutch opposition awaits, but first he can sit back and watch Danny Noppert and Jurjen van der Velde fight it out.
Alan Soutar, meanwhile, decided to remind everyone that doing things the easy way has never really been his thing. The pride of Scotland finally got past Teemu Harju, but only after transforming what looked like a relaxing evening stroll into a full-blown endurance hike through the mental wilderness. Two sets up. No legs dropped. Harju barely allowed a sniff at double. This was done. Finished. Over. Except it wasn’t.
A tight third set that went with throw cracked the door ever so slightly, and Harju barged straight through it. Soutar’s form dipped, the Finn grew in belief, and suddenly the scoreboard read two sets apiece. Fifth set. Decider. Ally Pally awake. Six legs in, three apiece, and into the dreaded ‘two clear’ territory. What followed was chaos. Four straight breaks of throw. Nerves everywhere. At 5-5, the rulebook shifted again – sudden death, one leg to decide it, Harju throwing first.
Thankfully for Soutar, the break-of-throw madness continued. He scraped through, heart rate somewhere north of acceptable, and booked a date with Gian van Veen. He will know, deep down, that kind of generosity will not be afforded to him twice.
And then there was Scott Williams. Because of course there was. Shaggy is box office by default, and once again he delivered, brushing aside Paolo Nebrida with a scoreline that did not tell the full story. The Filipino was superb in patches and, barring a rough third set, can fairly argue that 3-0 flattered the man from Lincolnshire.
Williams, though, was ruthless. Heavy scoring. Ice-cold finishing. Two sets wrapped up without dropping a leg, the third dispatched soon after, and just for good measure he tossed in one of his trademark blind 180s – because if you are going to win at Ally Pally, you may as well do it with theatre.
Performance of the tournament so far from someone exiting probably belongs to Nebrida. Performance from someone staying? Williams, without question is in the running. Jermaine Wattimena or Dominik Gruellich up next. And if Scott Williams keeps playing like that, they might want to bring popcorn.
TUESDAY 16TH DECEMBBER – Afternoon Session Results
Alan Soutar 3-2 Teemu Harju
Nick Kenny 0-3 Justin Hood
Scott Williams 3-0 Paolo Nebrida
Chris Dobey 3-1 Xiao Chen Zong
—–ends—–
Images: PDC / T Lanning
