LET-OFF FOR VAN GERWEN AS BIG-NAME TRIO ELIMINATED IN DUTCH DARTS MASTERS
World Champion Michael van Gerwen overcame a scare against Steve Maish before booking his place in the third round of the Dutch Darts Masters on Saturday, but reigning champion Kim Huybrechts, Simon Whitlock and Peter Wright were all knocked out in Veldhoven.
Dutch star van Gerwen, playing effectively on home soil at the NH Hotel Koningshof, faced the threat of elimination against qualifier Maish as a string of missed doubles allowed the Essex ace to share the opening six legs of their second round clash.
A 13-darter put van Gerwen 4-3 up before he missed a further ten darts at doubles in the eighth leg, only for Maish to miss his chance with four darts to steal the leg as van Gerwen escaped on double one.
Although Maish punished two missed match darts in the next to pull back to 5-4, van Gerwen regained his range on the doubles by finishing 96 for a 14-darter as he secured a third round place.
Van Gerwen now takes on Kevin Painter in the last 16, with the former Players Championship Finals winner also receiving a let-off for missed doubles in his narrow 6-5 win over Christian Kist.
Painter looked to have squandered his chance for victory with one dart at the bull for a 6-4 win as Kist - the former Lakeside Champion making his European Tour debut after joining the PDC circuit - forced a decider.
The Dutchman then hit a 180 to be first to a finish in the final leg, but missed three match darts of his own to allow Painter a let-off as he hit tops to progress.
World Championship finalist Peter Wright, though, paid the price for missing two match darts in the deciding leg of his thriller with Richie Burnett, who hit a 177 to leave 32 as he finished double 16 for a 13-darter to claim the win.
World number three Simon Whitlock was also punished for missed doubles as he went down 6-3 to Stuart Kellett, while last October's Dutch Darts Masters Champion, Kim Huybrechts, went down 6-4 to Northern Ireland's Michael Mansell.
The Belgian's older brother Ronny also exited the event on Saturday, as he went down 6-4 to Brendan Dolan as the former World Grand Prix finalist claimed victory with a brilliant 167 checkout.
Welsh youngster Jamie Lewis also took out a 167 finish on Saturday, but went on to lose his clash with namesake Adrian Lewis 6-3.
Lewis now plays number two seed Dave Chisnall in the last 16, with the world number five having seen off Andy Smith 6-2 in their second round contest.
Joe Cullen impressed with a 100.59 average in a 6-1 win over three-time World Champion John Part as he set up a last 16 clash with Mansell, while Dolan now meets Finland's Jarkko Komula, who saw off Paul Nicholson 6-4 to repeat his October win over the same opponent in Veldhoven.
Dean Winstanley was unable to repeat the brilliant form which had seen him average almost 107 in Friday's first round as he went down 6-1 to Wes Newton, who now meets Kellett in the last 16.
Mervyn King produced arguably the performance of the day with a 103.66 average in a ruthless whitewash of young Belgian Dimitri van den Bergh, and his reward is a clash with emerging Welshman Kevin Thomas, who edged out Steve Beaton 6-5 after the former World Champion missed three match darts in the tenth leg of their game.
Another 11-leg thriller saw Vincent van der Voort end Gary Anderson's hopes of a second successive European Tour victory, as the Dutchman finished 138 to claim the deciding leg of their game.
Darren Webster won three of the final four legs in his clash with Jamie Caven as he picked up a 6-5 victory to set up a third round game with Ian White, who enjoyed a 6-3 win over Terry Jenkins in a high-quality contest.