PDC World Championship - Report Tenth Day, Afternoon
SUNDAY BEST FROM WHITLOCK, PAINTER AND ANDERSON
Former Ladbrokes World Darts Championship finalists Simon Whitlock, Kevin Painter and Gary Anderson all swept into the last 16 of this year's tournament at Alexandra Palace with comfortable victories on Sunday afternoon.Australian star Whitlock, the 2010 runner-up, swept aside Finland's Jarkko Komula in straight sets and dropped only five legs as he romped into the third round. Whitlock took the game's first set 3-1 before coming from 2-0 down to win the third, producing a key 12-darter to break throw in the process. He then stepped up the pace by winning the third set with a trio of 13-dart finishes, and held his nerve to seal victory in the deciding leg of the fourth.
"I'm very happy with that win because I felt a lot better than my last match and I felt in control this time," said Whitlock. "I knew I had to play well to beat him today and I did that. I started off slowly and I was a little bit nervy, but once I got a couple of sets ahead I thought I played some really good stuff. Kevin Painter will be a really hard game next. He's been around for a long time and it will be very tough, so I'm taking one match at a time. "I'll be practising on Christmas Day because I'm not 100 percent yet - I'm very close and I feel really good, but I'll do a little bit more work as the matches progress."
2004 finalist Painter also enjoyed a straight sets victory as he lost only five legs in seeing off former Players Championship Finals winner Paul Nicholson. Painter edged a key first set 3-2 as he capitalised on two missed doubles from Nicholson in the deciding leg by taking out 116, and he took the next three sets 3-1 to set up his post-Christmas clash with Whitlock.
"I didn't play as well as my first round game against Tomas Seyler and still didn't feel that comfortable, even at 3-0 up, but I got the job done and there's still a lot more in the locker. I'm a big stage player and I produce my best performances on the big occasions. I loved the atmosphere out there today," said Painter. " It didn't quite go to plan but the difference was my finishing at the right time. When it came to the big moments, I delivered and when it came to the big pressure shots, I took them out. I nicked the first set and I think that killed Paul. I felt really edgy in the first set and I don't know where the 116 came from, but it settled me down a little bit to take the next set, and after two sets it was going to be hard for Paul. I didn't play fantastically but there's something to work on. My finishing's good, and if I can up my scoring a little bit then I think we're onto something."
Nicholson said: "I did everything right in the last couple of weeks and I felt great mentally, but physically something wasn't right. I know what went wrong today, and I'm going to fix it in the New Year. I'm outside of the top 16 in the world and I've got to make big strides next year. Today was a bad day, but I know there's a lot of good days ahead so I'll look forward to them."
Birthday boy Gary Anderson, who lost the 2011 final to Adrian Lewis, defeated number 15 seed Brendan Dolan 4-1 as he moved into the last 16 with another strong performance, averaging almost 98 in setting up a third round date with Michael van Gerwen or Kevin McDine.
The Scot, who turned 43 on Sunday, took the game's first three sets, including a 12-darter in the decicing leg of set two, before Dolan punished four missed match darts from Anderson to edge the fourth.
Anderson, though, swept through the fifth set without reply as he moved into the last 16 for a fourth successive year at Alexandra Palace.
"It's a great way to celebrate my birthday," said Anderson. "I'm glad to have come through that because Brendan, on the floor, is one of the hardest player you can play on the circuit. When I lost the fourth set I was kicking myself, but it was typical of me and I recovered well. I was glad to get it wrapped up at 4-1. The 180s have dried up a little bit for me at the moment, but I'm hitting plenty of 140s and getting two darts in the treble quite regularly. I've produced two solid performances and it's done the job for me so far."