World Darts Championship 2022/23 | Day Two preview and order of play
A host of star names take to the Ally Pally stage on an unmissable Day Two of the 2022/23 World Darts Championship on Friday.
An action-packed double session features six First Round ties and two Second Round encounters, with a blend of youth and experience on show in the capital.
The afternoon session includes a stand-out tie between two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis and Sweden’s Daniel Larsson.
Only four players have made more PDC World Championship appearances (18) than Lewis – who famously claimed back-to-back world titles in 2011 and 2012.
The former UK Open and European Champion has also landed two nine-darters at Ally Pally and has shown glimpses of his vintage best this season, ending a three-year title drought on the ProTour in July, while also reaching the Quarter-Finals of the Belgian Darts Open.
Lewis returns to Ally Pally unseeded as the world number 33 and starts out against PDC Nordic & Baltic qualifier Larsson – who has competed in three previous PDC World Championships, as well as the World Cup of Darts and World Series.
Former Premier League star and major finalist Kim Huybrechts aims to avoid a potential banana skin at the hands of South African qualifier Grant Sampson.
Huybrechts was a quarter-finalist at this year’s World Cup of Darts with Belgium and produced his best run to date at Ally Pally on his debut a decade ago – reaching the Last Eight.
Sampson, who defeated Devon Petersen en route to securing qualification, pulled off a shock 3-1 scalp of UK Open semi-finalist Keane Barry on Thursday.
Alan Soutar aims to kick-start another memorable run on the sport’s greatest stage by dispatching Australian debutant Mal Cuming.
Scottish star Soutar defeated Diogo Portela, Mensur Suljovic and Jose de Sousa during a terrific maiden campaign here 12 months ago, and after a relatively low-key season to follow, he sparked back into life with a charge to the Quarter-Finals of last month’s Grand Slam as a Tour Card holder qualifier.
Cuming claimed the DPA Oceanic Masters title to seal a dream debut, having made one previous appearance in the BDO World Championship at Lakeside, as well as this year’s World Series on home soil Down Under.
Meanwhile, Croatian number one Boris Krcmar takes on Japan’s Toru Suzuki in a clash of two soft-tip stars.
Krcmar is bidding for his first win on the World Championship stage at the fourth time of asking and has enjoyed a solid season which has seen him reach the Last 16 of the UK Open and the Quarter-Finals of a European Tour event.
Suzuki was beaten in straight sets by Madars Razma on his debut here two years ago and secured a return by reaching the Semi-Finals of the PDC Asian Championship.
Two-time world finalist Michael Smith launches his latest quest for a maiden world title in the final match of the evening session against 22-year-old Nathan Rafferty.
Smith returns to Ally Pally as a major champion for the first time, having finally ended his wait at the Grand Slam in November following an unwanted run of eight consecutive major final defeats.
Bully Boy comes into this event as the number four seed and with unfinished business after letting a 5-4 lead slip in an eventual 7-5 defeat to Peter Wright in January’s final.
As well as runner-up spots at the UK Open and European Championship, Smith also claimed the Dutch Darts Championship title and three consecutive ProTour titles during the most memorable season of his career so far.
Rafferty enjoyed a dream debut on opening night by edging out Jermaine Wattimena in a last-set decider and will be eyeing a major scalp in the biggest outing of his career so far.
The Northern Irish youngster has racked up nine Development Tour titles as well as a Challenge Tour title during his brief career so far and qualified courtesy of topping this year’s Development Tour Order of Merit.
Earlier in the evening, all eyes will be on teenage sensation Beau Greaves as she marks her eagerly-anticipated PDC World Championship debut with a clash against Ireland’s William O’Connor.
Greaves has established herself as the dominant force of women’s darts at the age of just 18, storming to the WDF Women’s world title in April before reeling off a staggering eight consecutive PDC Women’s Series titles to top the Order of Merit and clinch a dream debut at Ally Pally.
WDF Women’s World Masters champion a week ago, a rampant Greaves now faces perhaps the biggest test of her young career as she bids to emulate Fallon Sherrock by defeating a male opponent and PDC Tour Card holder on this iconic stage.
Standing in the way of the Doncaster darter and a place in Round Two is former World Cup of Darts finalist O’Connor – whose seasonal highlights have included a run to the Semi-Finals of the UK Open and the final of the Hungarian Trophy.
O’Connor, a former Premier League ‘Challenger’, has not lost in the opening round of the World Championship since his debut in 2017/18 but will be met with a formidable test from the fearless teenager.
Elsewhere, Austrian ace Rowby-John Rodriguez meets Filipino star Lourence Ilagan for the right to face Dimitri van den Bergh in the Second Round.
Rodriguez has enjoyed the most fruitful season of his career to date, finishing runner-up at the European Darts Matchplay and securing a debut appearance at the World Matchplay – where he defeated Jonny Clayton in the opening round.
Former World Masters semi-finalist Ilagan returns for a seventh stint at Ally Pally since 2009 and remains without a win to his name despite a number of impressive showings in recent years.
Former World Youth Champion Keegan Brown comes up against German ace Florian Hempel in another closely-matched encounter.
Brown ended a seven-year title drought at Players Championship 23 in August, while also reaching the Quarter-Finals of the German Darts Grand Prix, and has not lost in the opening round of the World Championship since 2015.
Hempel famously dumped out Martin Schindler and Dimitri van den Bergh in his debut campaign a year ago before falling to Raymond Smith in the Third Round and clinched his return by winning this year’s German Super League.
The action gets under way from 12.30pm GMT, with First Round and Second Round matches to be contested over the best five sets, best of five legs per set.
The tie break rule does not apply to First Round matches, meaning the fifth leg of a deciding set would be sudden death, while the final set in matches from Round Two onwards must be won by two clear legs, unless the score reaches 5-5, in which case a sudden-death leg will be played.
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World Darts Championship 2022/23 Day Two Schedule
Friday December 16
Afternoon Session (12.30pm-4.30pm)
Alan Soutar v Mal Cuming (R1)
Boris Krcmar v Toru Suzuki (R1)
Adrian Lewis v Daniel Larsson (R1)
Kim Huybrechts v Grant Sampson (R2)
Evening Session (7pm-11pm)
Rowby-John Rodriguez v Lourence Ilagan (R1)
William O‘Connor v Beau Greaves (R1)
Keegan Brown v Florian Hempel (R1)
Michael Smith v Nathan Rafferty (R2)
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