Gerwyn Price advanced to the second round of the World Darts Championship with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Adam Gaulas of the Czech Republic.
Price, the 2021 world champion, has produced some of the best darts of this year’s tournament so far, but still has room for improvement in doubles, having only lost two legs.
The Welshman will face Dutchman Wesley Plazier in the second round on Sunday and, if he survives the draw, he will face Luke Littler in the quarter-finals.
“I think I played pretty decent in that match, apart from losing two legs. I thought I was OK,” Price told Sky Sports Darts.
“We needed to improve to win this tournament, but it was OK for a first-round match. First-round matches are always difficult, but against a player like Adam, he’s slow and it’s hard to find the pace, find the rhythm and get the flow into the game.”
Price outscored Gaulas, who was playing in the World Darts Championship for the second time, with 13 darters and 12 darters from the off to take the first set.
He went for nine darts at the start of the second set, but lost his footing by missing six darts on a double, and was broken by Gaulas after missing another double.
But Price turned on the afterburners again by winning the next three legs, winning the set with a 120 checkout and riding through the final set with a second 120 checkout to win six legs in a row.
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Gerwyn Price scores an impressive 120 points in first round match against Adam Gaulas at the World Darts Championship
Sixth seed Danny Knoppert is the dark horse of the tournament but was pushed by his Dutch compatriot Jurjen van der Velde, who brought spray to try to keep the Alexandra Palace bees away.
However, the hornet appeared during the second set, and after Van der Velde actually leveled up with a win, Noppert was able to take a close third set and secure a 3-1 win.
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Jurgen van der Velde is the latest player to use spray to try to stop Ally Parry Wasps before his match against Danny Knoppert
Germany’s Ricardo Pietrico also won by the same point after a close battle with Portugal’s Jose de Sousa. Three of the four sets went to the deciding leg, with Pietrenko winning two of them and finishing with a flourish.
Australian Joe Comito won his first World Darts Championship with a 3-1 victory over Germany’s Nico Springer.
Sawtal survives the almighty horror, Dobey passes safely
Alan Souter missed an incredible 15 darts before finally crossing the line with a double 16 against Teemu Harju in a sudden-death shootout.
The Scottish firefighter, who is currently training for the London Marathon, dominated the opening two sets, but turned his opponent around in the tournament’s first sudden-death decider.
“Soots” averaged 91 points, scored nine times in the 180s, and had a high checkout of 130 points to win an epic contest. The record remains that John Peart failed 18 times in a darts match against Andy Hamilton at the 2013 Players Championship Final.
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The Ally Parry Hornet reappeared on day six of the World Darts Championship, landing on Teemu Harju’s collar.
It wasn’t a Hollywood-like display, but Chris Dobey is riding high after defeating last year’s semi-finalist Xiaochen Zhong 3-1 with the help of six 180s. Dobie’s win means he will face ‘Goldfinger’ Andrew Gilding in the second round
Scott Williams returned to his best performance on the world championship stage, defeating a difficult opponent in Paolo Nebrida to win 3-0.
The 2024 semifinalist struggled with his pitching at the beginning of the season, but he looked back at the best of his brilliant run with a double-16 finish with an average of 99.25, 180 no-looks, 25 exhibitions, and 25 no-looks. Williams hit 92 out with two double 18s in his trademark style to round off a sublime victory.
‘Happy Feet’ Justin Hood wasted little time in ousting Nick Kenny in straight sets, easily winning with an average of over 99 points.
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Watch Scott Williams’ best performance in the first round against Paolo Nebrida at the 2026 World Darts Championship.
What’s next?
Day 7 of the World Darts Championship on Wednesday will feature just one session, from 7pm, live on Sky Sports Darts.
Canada’s Matt Campbell will take on Adam Cebeda of the United States, followed by Raymond van Barneveld against Switzerland’s Stefan Belmont.
‘The Machine’ James Wade takes on Japan’s Ryusei Azumoto, while Germany’s Martin Schindler rounds out the night against England’s Stephen Burton.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live and exclusively on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel until Saturday 3rd January. Stream darts and other top sports now.
