Fallon Sherrock punishes wasteful Darius Labanauskas at the Nordic Darts Masters
Fallon Sherrock punished a disaster on the doubles from Darius Labanauskas to record a 6-1 rout in the opening round of the 2022 Nordic Darts Masters in Copenhagen on Friday.
Day One of the season’s second World Series event saw the eight PDC representatives all safely progress past Nordic & Baltic opposition at Forum Copenhagen.
Sherrock, last year’s beaten finalist, bounced back from her disappointing First Round exit in last week’s US Masters with a commanding victory over an out of sorts Labanauskas.
The multiple PDC Women’s Series event winner punished a staggering 16 missed darts at doubles from the nervy Lithuanian to coast into the Quarter-Finals.
Sherrock raced into a 4-0 lead before Labanauskas finally got off the mark in leg five, but a stunning 142 checkout from ‘The Queen of The Palace’ was followed up by an 85 finish to complete a rampant victory.
Sherrock will now face newly-crowned US Masters champion Michael Smith in the Last Eight on Saturday, after the St Helens star began his bid for back-to-back World Series titles with a 6-2 success over Danish number one Vladimir Andersen.
Smith was not at his blistering best, but he eased through with a 94 average and four maximums, converting a 101 finish to seal the deal with a 12-darter.
Elsewhere, reigning champion Michael van Gerwen kicked off his title defence with a dominant 6-1 win over Finnish veteran Marko Kantele.
Van Gerwen produced checkouts of 157 and 103 en route to victory with a 97 average and 55 per cent on the doubles, and will now meet James Wade in a dress rehearsal for Monday’s Premier League Semi-Final clash.
Wade began his campaign with a comfortable 6-3 win over Madars Razma, despite a spectacular 154 checkout from the Latvian midway through the contest.
World Champion Peter Wright produced the performance of the night in Copenhagen, averaging 103.6 in a whitewash win over TV debutant Matthías Örn Fridriksson.
Fridriksson became the first Icelandic player to feature in a televised PDC event, but he was blown away by the world number one, who converted 55 per cent of his attempts at double.
Wright now looks ahead to an all-Scottish affair against Gary Anderson – who survived a huge scare after rallying from 5-3 down to edge out experienced Swede Daniel Larsson in a decider.
Finishes of 116 and 100 inspired Anderson’s revival following a torrid start, and after firing in back-to-back 13-darters to force a decider, the Scot sealed his progression via double eight.
Gerwyn Price recovered from a sluggish start to dump out home favourite Brian Løkken, reeling off five consecutive legs from 2-1 down to book a last eight showdown against Dimitri Van den Bergh.
In the evening’s curtain-raiser, Van den Bergh cruised through with a comprehensive whitewash win over Danish youngster Benjamin Drue Reus, averaging 98 and landing four 180s.
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Nordic Darts Masters 2022 Day One Results
All times BST (local time one hour ahead)
Friday June 10
First Round
6pm-10pm
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-0 Benjamin Drue Reus
Gary Anderson 6-5 Daniel Larsson
James Wade 6-3 Madars Razma
Fallon Sherrock 6-1 Darius Labanauskas
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Brian Løkken
Michael Smith 6-2 Vladimir Andersen
Peter Wright 6-0 Matthias Örn Friôriksson
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Marko Kantele
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