James Richardson, Darren Webster and Toni Alcinas also progress
Friday 22 December 2017 08:13, UK
Peter “Snakebite” Wright made an impressive return from injury at the PDC World Darts Championship, as Kim Huybrechts and Cristo Reyes both suffered shock first-round exits at Alexandra Palace.
Wright fired three maximums and 17 140s on his way to a hard-fought 3-1 win over Diogo Portela, setting up a second-round clash against Wales' Jamie Lewis.
The world No 2 showed few ill-effects from the gallstones that saw him rushed to hospital last month and put his participation in the event in doubt, recovering from losing the opening leg to take the first set.
Portela, the first Brazilian to play in the world championship, bounced back to break Wright and claim the second set, before Snakebite struck an 11-darter on his way to winning the third.
The 2014 runner-up posted an average of 97.9 during the contest and wasted no time in racing through the fourth set, breaking throw twice and sealing victory with a 45 checkout.
Reyes was beaten 3-1 in an all-Spanish contest against World Cup team-mate Toni Alcinas, while Huybrechts was dumped out in straight sets by James Richardson.
Making his first Alexandra Palace appearance since 2012 - where he famously knocked out Raymond van Barneveld - Richardson struck four 180s and dropped just two legs on his way to thrashing Huybrechts.
Richardson opened with a 13-darter on his way to winning the first set 3-1 and took the second by the same margin, before posting a 105 finish on his way to whitewashing the Belgian in the third.
Alcinas edged past Reyes in a low-scoring first set, before recovering from losing the opening leg of the next to fire an 11-darter on his way doubling his advantage.
Reyes came through a final-leg decider to claim the third and extend the contest, only for Alcinas to hold throw in the fourth set and take out the winning double at the fifth attempt to set up a last-32 meeting with Kevin Munch.
Darren Webster looked in danger of being another seeded scalp when he threw away a two-set lead against Devon Petersen, but bounced back to run away with the fifth set and book a meeting with Simon Whitlock.
Webster missed two match darts for a 3-0 victory to allow Petersen to take the third set and claim a straight-legs win in the fourth, before breaking the South African early in the decider to secure the win.
The 2018 World Championship from Alexandra Palace continues on Friday with Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson both in action. The afternoon session gets underway from 12.30pm on Sky Sports Darts and ending with the final on New Year's Day.
Keep up to date with the news as the PDC celebrates 25 years on Sky Sports. So get all the latest at www.skysports.com/darts and join in the conversation @SkySportsDarts - don't forget to use #LoveTheDarts
