Champion Van Gerwen loses in first round to Gurney
Defending champion Michael van Gerwen falls to a 6-5 defeat by Daryl Gurney in the opening round of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam.
In the opening round of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, defending champion Michael van Gerwen suffered a 6-5 loss to Daryl Gurney. The Northern Irish player took an early 3-0 lead, but Van Gerwen made a strong comeback by winning five consecutive legs. However, Gurney, who was a late replacement for Lourence Ilagan, managed to take the ninth leg.
Van Gerwen then missed six match darts, allowing Gurney to equalize the match at 5-5. The Dutch player secured the win with the final throw. Gurney will face England's Ross Smith in the next round after advancing past Kevin Doets 6-3. Meanwhile, Luke Littler will begin his match against former UK Open champion Danny Noppert on Friday, having previously defeated Noppert 6-0 in the Czech Darts Open.
Luke Humphries also secured a win against Jermaine Wattimena, progressing 6-4. Dutch number one Gian van Veen avenged his country's loss with a 6-2 victory over Chris Dobey. Dirk van Duijvenbode overcame a 4-1 deficit to defeat Viktor Tingstrom 6-4, and Ryan Searle, who threw four 180s, beat former world champion Rob Cross 6-2. Searle will face Josh Rock next, who won the last three legs to defeat Stephen Bunting 6-5.
Karel Sedlacek made his tournament debut with a 6-4 win over New Zealander Ben Robb and will face Gian van Veen in his next match.
Written by urgent.news from BBC Sport's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
