World Darts Championship: Daryl Gurney overcomes early trouble to ease past Ross Smith

Earlier, Dutchman Vincent Van Der Voort had also secured safe passage into round three with a 3-0 win over England's Darren Webster

The Northern Irishman eventually found his range to see out victory (Getty)

Fifth seed Daryl Gurney shook off early double trouble to beat Ross Smith 3-0 and book his place in the third round of the PDC World Darts Championship at London’s Alexandra Palace.

Northern Irishman Gurney appeared on course to take the opening set 3-0 before missing eight darts at a finish as Smith recovered to level at 2-2, only to see Gurney then hit double 12.

Both men again struggled on finishes in the second set, but Gurney eventually started to find his range to move within a set of victory, which he closed out after another maximum in the deciding leg to record a 100.3 match average.

Gurney admitted his finishing had initially lacked quality. He said on the PDC Twitter feed: “The doubles were shabby, I knew the trebles were going in.

“There have been so many 2-0s where people have been coming back, and I made sure I was not going to let that happen in the third set. I wanted to kill the game there and then.”

Gurney will play Welshman Jamie Lewis, beaten by Phil Taylor in the 2018 semi-finals, for a place in the last 16 on Saturday evening.

“It is one game at a time, and I will give it my all, hopefully I can still be here at the very end,” he added.

Earlier, Dutchman Vincent Van Der Voort had also secured safe passage into round three with a 3-0 win over England’s Darren Webster, the 13th seed.

The two-time quarter-finalist dropped just one leg, in the opening set, and finished with back-to-back 15-darters which secured a match against either Steve Beaton or Chris Dobey.

Tuesday’s other early games saw Scotland’s Robert Thornton lose 3-1 against Swedish qualifier Daniel Larsson, who hit seven 180s and produced a match average of 91.03.

Austrian Rowby-John Rodriguez put out Ricky Evans by the same 3-1 scoreline, to record a first victory on the Alexandra Palace stage.

Vincent Van Der Voort secured a 3-0 win over England’s Darren Webster (Getty)

Japan’s Seigo Asada produced a stunning comeback to beat Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski 3-2 having lost the first two sets.

The Asian Tour number two will go on to meet ninth seed James Wade in the second round.

Tuesday’s evening session had opened with Ireland’s Steve Lennon defeating Australian James Bailey 3-0 in their first-round match, and he will next face Alan Norris.

Dutch thrower Ron Meulenkamp recovered from 2-0 down to beat Brazilian Diogo Portela, who had hit an 11-dart leg in the opening set.

However, Meulenkamp, with eight maximums, came through strong after taking the third set and is scheduled to meet Michael Smith in round two.

Belgian Dimitri Van Den Bergh, the world number 35, ran out a 3-0 winner over American Chuck Puleo, which saw him hit a 144 check-out during the final set. He will take on Welshman Jonny Clayton in round two.

​PA