Martin Adams boosts BDO with win over Ian White at Grand Slam of Darts
Sunday 8 November 2015 16:56, UK
Martin Adams provided the BDO with their first win at the 2015 Grand Slam of Darts with a 5-2 victory against Ian White in Wolverhampton.
Adams watched as six other BDO hopefuls were beaten on the Civic Hall stage, but he made his tournament debut a memorable one by beating the eighth seed from Stoke-on-Trent.
Three-time world champion Adams shared the first four games, missing a double-12 to let 'Diamond' level the scores, but he kicked up a gear from that point.
'Wolfie' took out a 136 finish to re-establish his lead, and broke White's throw with an 80 checkout before finishing on 116 to seal victory with an impressive 104.82 average.
That sets Adams up at a chance of qualifying for the second round, with matches against old BDO foes Steve Beaton and Jelle Klaasen still to come in his group. Klaasen defeated Beaton 5-4 in his first group match.
Adams told Sky Sports: "I enjoyed that. I love playing darts, that's the thing. I've enjoyed playing the last year more than I ever have before.
"I score like that all the time in exhibitions, but tournaments have different pressures and sometimes they don't quite go where you want them to. Today they went where I wanted them to and it was lovely.
"(The 136) probably was the turning-point as the match turned out. I loved it - it was great, and the fans were great, fantastic."
Former BDO world champion Andy Fordham was one of the most popular figures on day one in Wolverhampton, but the Viking was unable to match Adrian Lewis before going down 5-2.
Fordham thrilled the packed crowd by throwing a maximum with his first three darts, and he finished a 14-dart leg off with double-top to get the remaining seated fans on their feet.
But Lewis took the hint that Fordham might be a tougher opponent than expected after his opponent missed two darts at double top to take a 2-0 lead.
Lewis landed a pair of 180s in the third leg to move 2-1 in front, and extended his lead to 4-1 after coming close to a 164 finish.
Fordham earned more cheers with a 116 checkout to keep the match alive, but Lewis was able to seal victory in the seventh leg to make a good start to his Group C campaign.
There was no joy for reigning BDO champion Scott Mitchell, who found himself in a 3-0 hole against Peter Wright and eventually fell to a 5-2 defeat.
Michael van Gerwen was in ruthless form in defeating Mark Oosterhuis 5-0, his victory including 12 and 13-dart finishes.
Kim Huybrechts looked to be in good form in beating Steve West 5-2, with both players trading 180s regularly, while Michael Smith beat Wayne Jones 5-3 and Davie Chisnall came out on top 5-3 against Mervyn King in a battle of two leading PDC players.
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