Teenage history-maker Mitchell Lawrie starred on night six of the WDF World Championships, recording the highest average of the tournament so far in a 3-0 win over second seed Jason Brandon.
The 15-year-old, the youngest player to ever compete in a senior Lakeside darts world championship, was electric in the first set, winning legs in 14, 13 and 12 darts as he took the first set 3-0 with a 116 average.
His standard tapered back a bit from there as Brandon put him under some pressure, but Lawrie still proved too strong for his American opponent.
After initially missing a clutch of match darts, Lawrie sealed progress with a 117 checkout, finishing with five maximums and a 97.21 average.
‘Wee Sox’ will play another American tomorrow in the shape of Jeff Springer, while also kicking off his Youth World Championship campaign earlier in the afternoon against Adam Sepsi.
We are guaranteed a new name on the trophy in the WDF Women’s World Championship after the only previous winner in the field, Mikuru Suzuki, was beaten 2-1 by Deta Hedman.
Suzuki, who beat Kirsi Viinikainen in the first round, started the match strongly, taking the first set 3-0 courtesy of a 77 out on the bull followed by a 16-dart hold of throw.
Hedman got on the board in the first leg of the second set and after the first three legs went with throw, produced a 19-dart break to level the match.
The deciding set started with three breaks, Hedman getting two of them before holding her throw with a brilliant 80 finish to seal a 2-1 victory.
It was a 76.19 average in the end for three-time finalist Hedman, who’ll meet last year’s runner-up Sophie McKinlay in the quarter-finals on Friday.
McKinlay’s performance was similar to that of Hedman’s in that she dropped the first set before battling back to secure victory.
In a rematch of last year’s Girls’ World Championship title decider, Paige Pauling took the first set 3-0.
McKinlay retaliated in kind before producing some excellent darts to win the second set, breaking the Pauling throw with a 16-darter before sealing victory on double 10.
Stephen Rosney produced an impressive display in the opening game of the night on S4C, breezing past the 14th seed Thomas Junghans 3-0.
Rosney broke the Junghans throw in the first leg of the match and produced another in the last leg of the first set, pinning tops for a 16-darter.
It was one-way traffic from that point, Rosney reeling off a further six legs on the spin with outs of 61, 72 and 86 along the way as he won 3-0 with an 89.65 average.
He’ll back in action tomorrow evening to take on New Zealand’s Ben Robb.
Completing the Last 16 in the Open World Championship is England’s Jenson Walker.
It was a real battle for ‘The Interceptor’ against the debuting American David Fatum, with neither player truly performing to their best.
Having initially missed five set darts, Walker took the first set 3-2 with a 13-darter, but was punished for doing the same in the second set as Fatum sealed it with a 70 finish.
Walker had the better of the game from there though, winning six of the next eight legs to seal a 3-1 victory and book a Last 16 meeting with Australia’s Raymond Smith.
Photos: Chris Sargeant/Tip Top Pics
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Lakeside
WDF Majors
WDF World Championships
