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Willie O’Connor will face Daryl Gurney in the second round of the PDC World Darts Championship after beating Niels Zonneveld at Alexandra Palace.
The Limerick man dropped just three games to his Dutch opponent, who was making his debut at the event.
O’Connor closed the first set 3-1 against pitch, keeping the 22-year-old comfortably at bay.
The Cappamore native claimed second on the same scoreboard, but won’t be happy after missing 18 of 24 double shots for his 2-0 lead.
O’Connor, world number 36, also claimed the third set 3-1 and finished with an average of 88.42 which included four 180s and 12 140s.
The victory sets up a second-round clash with Derry’s Gurney, currently 11th in the order of merit, tomorrow afternoon.
“I was nervous coming here,” O’Connor admitted on Sky Sports.
“I didn’t feel in top shape in this game. It was behind us and we moved on to the next one.
“I know Daryl can play great darts. I hope for the best version of Daryl.”
A commanding performance from Willie O’Connor as he blanks Niels Zonneveld, and only drops three legs in the process!
📺 Up Next 👉 Chris Dobey v Jeff Smith pic.twitter.com/xCoAgVtCHm
– PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 16, 2020
Chris Dobey put on a concerted fight to keep his campaign alive with a second-round victory over Jeff Smith, who beat Keane Barry de Meath yesterday.
The Canadian took the first two sets with the No. 22 seed without doubles, but the Englishman worked his way back to level at 2-2 before taking the final set 3-0, hitting four more than 100 checkouts along the way.
Dobey told Sky Sports: “I went into halftime disappointed. I missed so many doubles in the first two sets and fair play with Jeff, he hit it all. I dug deep, like I always do, and came out the winner.”
Lisa Ashton narrowly missed her bid to emulate Fallon Sherrock after the four-time women’s world champion missed three darts to force a decisive stage by falling 3-2 to Adam Hunt.
Ashton aimed to follow in the footsteps of Sherrock, who became the first player to beat a man in the tournament 12 months ago.
She took over the first set with the bull but, after Hunt tied, Ashton missed two darts for a 2-0 lead in the third set and Hunt went ahead for the first time.
Ashton retired to force a deciding set and had his chances at 2-1, but after missing three darts at double-eight, Hunt served a final 120 to advance to the second round.
Previously, Ryan Joyce had surpassed Czech Republic number one Karel Sedlacek in the second round after a late-stage thriller.
Joyce, who will now face Krzysztof Ratajski, blew out at 106 at 2-2 in the deciding set, but ultimately clinched the match with a double seven after her opponent had passed four darts to the leg and six in total.
Ross Smith booked a clash with José De Sousa with a 3-0 first-round victory over World Championship rookie David Evans.
The second and third sets were allocated to decisive matches in a tighter match than the scoreboard suggested.
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