Michael van Gerwen rallies through at European Championship while Gary Anderson bows out
World champion Anderson whitewashed by Wade
Saturday 29 October 2016 11:21, UK
Michael van Gerwen overcame a huge scare against Simon Whitlock as he began his European Championship title defence with a narrow 6-5 win on Friday, but world champion Gary Anderson was whitewashed by James Wade at the Ethias Arena in Hasselt, Belgium.
The Dutch star, who has claimed the title for the past two years, saw his bid to complete a treble of wins threatened when Australian ace Whitlock - the 2012 champion - dominated their first-round clash.
After sharing the opening four legs, Whitlock pulled out to lead 4-2 with the aid of a show-stopping 170 checkout and then edged to the brink of victory at 5-3.
Van Gerwen, though, finished double 16 and 87 to force a decider, with Whitlock missing double 15 for the match on a 150 checkout to allow the world No 1 back in to finally secure the win.
"Simon has been playing well recently and he did again tonight," said Van Gerwen, who now plays Gerwyn Price in Saturday's second round.
"When he got ahead of me I knew I had to come back and I did that. I played well after the first few legs and I'm feeling fine - it doesn't matter how you win as long as you win.
"To win the triple in this event would be fantastic but I'm only in the last 16 and I can't look any further than that."
Price had earlier secured his second round spot with a 6-4 win over Daryl Gurney but world champion Gary Anderson crashed out as he lost 6-0 to No 4 seed James Wade, who hit six doubles from eight attempts in a ruthless display which included finishes of 102 and 100.
"I'm happy to win but it's horrible to see another player having an off-night like that," said Wade.
Wade now faces former World Youth Champion Max Hopp in a tasty second-round tie, with the 20-year-old German overcoming Dutchman Benito van de Pas 6-4.
Phil Taylor averaged a brilliant 109.28 as he began his bid to win a fifth European Championship with a 6-3 defeat of Alan Norris.
Taylor now meets Joe Cullen, who celebrated his debut with a 6-2 win over emerging star Chris Dobey, who had to borrow a set of darts from Michael Smith after his luggage failed to arrive in Belgium.
Austrian star Mensur Suljovic produced a brilliant display to see off Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena 6-1, averaging an impressive 104.26 and hitting six doubles from eight attempts as he moved through to face Ian White.
Suljovic will now play Ian White, whose bid to add to the three ranking victories he has claimed so far in 2016 began with a 6-2 defeat of Terry Jenkins, who was punished for 12 missed darts at doubles during the contest.
Number three seed Peter Wright edged out Justin Pipe 6-5 in a thriller, coming back from 5-4 down to win the final two legs as he moved through to face Cristo Reyes.
Spain's Reyes reached the second round in Hasselt for the second successive year, defeating world No 7 Robert Thornton 6-4, despite the Scot hitting five 180s.
Jelle Klaasen held off Steve West's fightback from 5-0 down before claiming a 6-3 victory to move through to a second-round meeting with Stephen Bunting.
Belgian hopes in the European Championship were ended on the opening night as No 5 seed Kim Huybrechts lost out 6-3 to debutant James Wilson who now plays Mervyn King, after he battled to a 6-4 win over South Africa's Devon Petersen in their first-round contest.
Australia's Kyle Anderson sent No 6 seed Dave Chisnall packing as he celebrated his debut with a 6-3 win.
Saturday's second round games will be followed on Sunday by the quarter-finals in the afternoon session and the semi-finals and final in the evening session.
Watch the Grand Slam of Darts live on Sky Sports from November 12.
