Joe Cullen, Nathan Aspinall and Kim Huybrechts all come through after another thrill-a-minute ride at Ally Pally; the action continues on Thursday with the final double session before the Christmas break, with Rob Cross going up against Raymond van Barneveld as two tungsten titans collide
Thursday 23 December 2021 08:27, UK
Big-hitting Nathan Aspinall survived an injection to calm down an elbow injury and a match dart to defeat Joe Murnan, while Kim Huybrechts set up a third-round meeting with defending champion and world No 1, Gerwyn Price, at the World Darts Championship.
Dirk van Duijvenbode spoiled Boris Koltsov's party at Ally Pally in a dramatic tie-break, while his Dutch colleague Martijn Kleermaker defeated Simon Whitlock in four sets.
Two-time Ally Pally semi-finalist Aspinall made a sluggish start to his clash against Paul Lim's conqueror, Murnan. He missed four set darts, allowing the man formerly known as 'Midnight' to snatch the opener.
Stockport thrower Aspinall, who has been suffering from golfers elbow and tendonitis, had been advised to take three months off by his doctor, but he didn't take it and threatened a nine-darter in the second set before landing a superb 145 checkout on his way to levelling matters.
Just when it looked as though Aspinall had taken control of the match, Murnan snatched the third set 3-1 to wrestle back the advantage.
However, the world No 94 missed a match dart in the next, with his wobble handing 'The Asp' the opportunity he craved to send the match into a thrilling climax, in which the 10th seed took control to scrape through.
Beaton, the 1996 Lakeside champion and former BDO world No 1, had already conquered 'The Queen of the Palace' Fallon Sherrock and he went into his clash against Huybrechts in good spirits.
The 57-year-old took the first set 3-1, but the Belgian levelled despite a combined total of 41 missed darts at doubles in eight legs of darts.
'The Hurricane' secured the third to hit the front despite just 20 per cent on the doubles and although 'The Bronzed Adonis' pulled out a pearler of a 146 finish in the next set, it was Huybrechts who completed victory by pinning double 18 with his fourth match dart.
Last year's World Grand Prix runner-up Van Duijvenbode ended the run of 'The Viking' Boris Koltsov, who belied his world ranking of 117 to give the Dutchman a run for his money.
'Aubergenius' won a tense deciding set tie-break by breaking the Russian in the sixth leg, to set up a third-round encounter with 'Smudger' Ross Smith.
'The Dutch Giant' Kleermaker and former finalist Whitlock slugged it out in the final game of the night.
Despite a massive 135 finish from 'The Wizard', Kleermaker wrapped up the third set to regain the upper hand after they shared the first two sets.
But the man from Amsterdam, who withdrew from last year's event due to COVID-19, eventually knocked out the 20th seed by whitewashing the Australian in the fourth set.
Earlier in the day, Joe Cullen produced a blistering barrage in the latter stages of his match, recovering from 2-1 adrift to topple former Lakeside finalist Jim Williams.
The Welshman conjured up a classy 119 finish to wrap up set three and seize the initiative in a topsy-turvy affair, but Cullen, who fired in eight 180s, won six of the last seven legs; posting ton-plus averages in each of the last two sets.
UK Open runner-up Luke Humphries set up a mouth-watering third-round clash against last year's semi-finalist Dave Chisnall, courtesy of a straight-sets win over Rowby-John Rodriguez.
Humphries - twice a quarter-finalist at Alexandra Palace - wasn't at his brilliant best, but he punished a below-par display from the Austrian to prevail with a 92 average and three 180s.
William O'Connor conceded just one leg in breezing past a struggling Glen Durrant. 'The Magpie' made a flying start with a sparkling 170 checkout, before converting nine of his 13 attempts at double to dump out the 2020 Premier League champion.
Elsewhere, nine-dart hero William Borland was unable to repeat his first-round heroics, succumbing to Players Championship Finals runner-up Ryan Searle in straight sets.
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