Barney steals the show

Raymond van Barneveld lit up the Winter Gardens in Blackpool with a nine-dart finish on the opening night of the StanJames.com World Matchplay.

The Dutchman was already in a commanding 8-1 lead over hapless opponent Denis Ovens when he took out treble 20, treble 19 and double 12 before sealing victory in the next leg.

It was the first nine-darter at the event since Phil Taylor's effort in 2002, but is the second successive tournament in which Barney has achieved the feat after his Premier League performance in May.

Barneveld and Ovens had been tied at 1-1 before the former world champion picked up the next nine legs, with impressive finishes of 112 and 142.

Van Barneveld had taken a break from the game and attributed to his trip to South Africa to see Holland play in the World Cup as his inspiration.

"The week in Cape Town and Johannesburg did me good," he said. "I realised that I was missing the darts and I have got the fire back in my belly and the hunger to win.

"It's a good result, a brilliant nine-darter and I'm happy with the win."

Earlier, compatriot Vincent van der Voort wrecked Dennis Priestley's 60th birthday celebrations with a 10-6 victory in the opening match.

Three-time finalist Priestley took an early lead but van der Voort quickly opened up a 4-1 lead after the veteran missed five darts to take the fifth leg.

However, he fired maximums on the way to narrowing the deficit to one before van der Voort pulled away again to lead 8-5 after a 157 checkout.

Priestley simply missed too many doubles to get back into the match and the Dutchman sealed it with double top.

Wayne Jones claimed his first win in the event with a 10-8 success against Colin Osborne.

Jones has lost in the first round for the last three years but stumbled over the winning line after taking four of the last five legs.

There was never more than a leg between them but Jones levelled at 7-7 with a 120 finish before edging ahead as a 101 checkout took him to within one of the win.

Osborne kept the match alive but Jones was first to a finish in the 18th leg and he made no mistake taking out out tops.

Ronnie Baxter clinched his place in the next round with a 10-7 victory over Jamie Caven in the night's closing match.