World Darts Championship: Michael van Gerwen survives huge scare
Saturday 19 December 2015 11:46, UK
Michael van Gerwen survived a huge scare as he struggled to a 3-2 win over qualifier Rene Eidams in the first round of the World Darts Championship.
The world No 1 was just two legs away from a massive upset defeat, with Eidams producing a stunning comeback from 2-0 down to force a tie-breaker, but the Dutchman held his nerve to seal victory at Alexandra Palace.
Earlier in the night Kim Huybrechts could not spare himself from a humbling early exit as he was defeated 3-2 by David Pallett.
Few would have expected Eidams to test Van Gerwen after he came through a low-quality preliminary match against Thanawat Gaweenuntawong, but the 22-year-old sparked into life in the third set.
Van Gerwen had not dropped a leg as he raced into a 2-0 lead, including finishes of 116 and 127, but Eidams gave an indication of what was to follow when he flung his dart into the bull to complete a 122 checkout.
Suddenly, the man nicknamed 'The Cube' was posing real problems for Van Gerwen, and he pulled a set back with a 103 finish.
The tournament favourite was floundering amidst the growing tension, failing to set up routine finishes, and Eidams calmly cleaned up 25 to level the match.
With the crowd calling his name, Eidams then forced the match into tie-breaking legs at 2-2 in the final set, but he could not close out the biggest upset in the tournament's history.
A spell of low scoring allowed Van Gerwen to ease clear and the Dutchman completed a 90 checkout to set up a meeting with Darren Webster.
But No 12 seed Huybrechts has bowed out of the competition after he produced a lacklustre performance again Pallett.
The Belgian appeared to have overcome a sluggish start when he moved 2-1 up, but the Shropshire man produced a spirited response and secured his place in the next round with two ton-plus finishes.
Brendan Dolan also endured a first round exit as he suffered a 3-0 defeat to Australian Kyle Anderson.
Live World Darts Championship
World Darts Championship night two results:
Thanawat Gaweenuntawong 0-2 Rene Eidams (preliminary match)
Brendan Dolan 0-3 Kyle Anderson
Kim Huybrechts 2-3 David Pallett
Michael van Gerwen 3-2 Rene Eidams
