World Grand Prix: Gerwyn Price and Joe Cullen progress as James Wade and Michael Smith suffer shock exits | Darts News

Nathan Aspinall picked up a shock victory over Michael Smith; Martin Lukeman came in with an upset upset against James Wade; Gerwyn Price picked up a dominating win as Joe Cullen defeated Damon Heta in a close contest

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Check out the best action from Day 2 of the World Grand Prix in Leicester

Michael Smith suffered a shock first-round exit at the hands of Nathan Aspinall on a night full of upheaval at the Leicester World Grand Prix.

The Stockport man came away with a 2-1 victory over Smith as the world No. 4 struggled to find his rhythm in doubles.

Martin Lukeman provided the performance of the night in a shock victory over James Wade, while Gerwyn Price turned in a professional performance against Martin Schindler and Joe Cullen defeated Damon Heta.

The final game of the night was billed as a great encounter and it didn’t disappoint as Smith and Aspinall faced off in a quick clash.

Aspinall started the encounter with a lot more promise, breaking Smith early with a 116 finish to go ahead with two runs.

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Nathan Aspinall started his match against Michael Smith with a crate of 116 in the first round of the World Grand Prix

‘Bully Boy’ fought back to claim his own set, but it wasn’t enough as the world No. 16 took advantage of some inaccuracy in doubles to win the first set.

The second set continued in the same vein as the first as Aspinall took a two set lead but Smith wasn’t ready to go down without a fight and checked the 95 to hold on to the tie before backing it up with a 101 finish to bring it back to the set level.

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Smith pulled out that finish to level the second set against Aspinall

A crucial step followed and a nice 171 brought Aspinall closer to victory with three match darts, but he didn’t take his chance and Smith checked on D10 to bring it down a set apiece.

A nervous third set ensued but Aspinall managed to find his form to secure a 3-0 shutout, checking on D16 to win the game.

Price cut an ultra-confident figure as he came out for his clash with Schindler and he got off to a good start, breaking the pitch in the first leg and holding his own to go forward.

With both players unable to find the doubles at the crate, Schindler fought to come back with a D5 in the third round of the set, but it was to no avail as “The Iceman” again discovered his accuracy to eliminate D2 for the first set. .

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Gerwyn Price enjoyed that 101 finish on his way to victory over Martin Schindler

The Welshman’s dominance continued in the second set as Schindler couldn’t get comfortable, a sublime 101 finish to break the pitch pushing him to victory and the second round.

Lukeman came out with the biggest upset of the night against Wade, winning the first set in three straight legs and stunning the world number 5 to secure his first televised victory.

Lukeman, who sits outside the world’s top 50, was finding big highs with ease while Wade struggled to get into doubles, with Wade at one point needing seven darts to get his leg forward in doubles.

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Martin Lukeman caused a huge upset by beating James Wade in the first round

The second set produced a partial fightback from Wade as he recovered his average, a crucial D2 keeping him level but the third game saw Lukeman fight well and hold his throw with a D10 to take the lead.

Out of nowhere, Wade found a vital 121 finish to take him to a decisive step, but it was Lukeman who finished with three match darts and used them well, hitting the D8 to secure the bigger win. of his career so far.

It was billed as a close and exciting game and Cullen and Heta did not disappoint in their opening set, trading pitch breaks and ton-plus finishes before a D16 saw Cullen take the opener. .

Heta takes full control in the second set, smashing Cullen twice, including a brilliant 115 finish, to take a 3-0 white and tie the game, but Cullen took the final set and the match in D8 to wrap up a gritty and thrilling match. .

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Joe Cullen took an early break in his first-round match against Damon Heta

The close contests continued as former world champion Rob Cross and former World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney faced off, with both players holding their throw before Cross’ failure to find the crucial double for start, missing nine times, giving Gurney a chance to break and take the first set.

After Cross fought back in the second set, hitting two highs and breaking Gurney to even things up, ‘Superchin’ held on and broke Cross early in the final set to take the big win.

Last year’s semi-finalist Danny Noppert was back to show off his doubles form as he took on Gabriel Clemens. A stunning return game saw the Dutchman take 13 darts to go into the double but rallied to drop on a ton and over 101 to seal the leg before taking the set.

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Danny Noppert missed 12 darts at double to get into the second leg of his match against Gabriel Clemens but still managed to win the set after a remarkable turnover

Clemens fought back for a few legs but Noppert raised his game and took a 2-0 win as he looks to go further than 2021.

With three rookies on show at the end of the first round, there were some upheavals to be had and Madars Razma had a solid performance winning 2-1 against Ryan Searle, taking the opening set after breaking the pitch twice before going out . a nice 108 finish to win the match and advance to the second round.

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Andrew Gilding hit that crate 102 en route to winning the opening set of his first-round match against Ross Smith

An all-British tie between Ross Smith and Andrew Gilding saw Smith walk away with the spoils in a narrow 2-1 win.

Night one players are back in action on Wednesday as Adrian Lewis takes on Chris Dobey, Peter Wright takes on Krzysztof Ratajski, Michael van Gerwen plays Stephen Bunting and Jonny Clayton takes on Dimitri Van den Bergh at the start of the second round.

Check out daily darts news at skysports.com/dartsour app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. You can watch the 25th edition of the World Grand Prix ‘Double in, Double out’ format on Sky Sports until the final on October 9 in Leicester.