Michael van Gerwen survives brief scare at Tokyo Masters
Last Updated: 06/07/16 6:03pm
Michael van Gerwen was made to work for an opening win over Masumi Chino in the Tokyo Masters.
The world No 1 endured a brief scare as his throw was broken twice by the determined Chino, but he closed out a 6-3 victory in the first round of the tournament.
Van Gerwen withstood classy checkouts of 140 and 101 from Chino, raising his game in the closing stages to set up a quarter-final with Dave Chisnall.
"I have to give him credit," said van Gerwen, who won the recent Shanghai Masters. "He did some good things at the right moments but I knew I would have the quality to come through in the end."
Chisnall had earlier opened the night with an impressive 6-1 victory over Shintaro Inoue, while defending champion Phil Taylor grinded out a 6-2 win over Haruki Muramatsu.
The 16-time world champion was troubled at times by Muramatsu, who has appeared in four World Championships and was the first Japanese player to win a PDC Tour Card 18 months ago.
"He was getting to me a little if I'm honest," said Taylor. "He's a steady player and I had to play well to beat him."
Peter Wright, last year's losing finalist, inflicted a 6-0 thrashing on Chiara Fujimori to earn a quarter-final clash with Adrian Lewis, who claimed a convincing 6-1 win against Tsuneki Zaha.
Gary Anderson, James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld complete the quarter-final line-up as they all comfortably avoided early defeats in Japan.
First Round results (best of 11 legs)
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Shintaro Inoue
Raymond van Barneveld 6-1 Keita Ono
Peter Wright 6-0 Chikara Fujimori
Phil Taylor 6-2 Haruki Muramatsu
Adrian Lewis 6-1 Tsuneki Zaha
James Wade 6-1 Masahiro Hiraga
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Masumi Chino
Gary Anderson 6-1 Seigo Asada
Quarter-Finals
Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld
Adrian Lewis v Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen v Dave Chisnall
James Wade v Phil Taylor
