World Darts Championship 2019/20 Day Five: Evening Session preview and order of play

Three players get set to make their PDC World Championship debuts on Tuesday evening as the scramble to secure Second and Third Round places continues at Alexandra Palace.

A host of big names have already fallen by the wayside in the sport’s most prestigious tournament, paving the way for a potential outsider to mount an assault on the silverware.

Jeffrey de Zwaan would more than likely have been bracing himself for a show-down with Dutch rival Raymond van Barneveld in Round Two, but Barney’s shock exit now means the 23-year-old will now take on American ace Darin Young.

De Zwaan is edging closer to a place in the world’s top 16 for the first time, having picked up a Players Championship title this year in addition to a Quarter-Final run at the European Championship.

The former World Matchplay semi-finalist is making only his third appearance in the sport’s blue riband event and is aiming to progress beyond the Last 64 stage for the first time.

Having witnessed his former protege sent packing in his farewell tournament, De Zwaan will be wary of the threat posed by left-hander Young – who handled the occasion superbly on Saturday to pull off the biggest win of his career.

The vastly experienced American is making his tenth appearance in this historic competition on the back of three CDC title wins in 2019.

Dutch ace De Zwaan reacts (Photo by Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Two young sensations collide in the battle of the sexes as Development Tour Order of Merit winner Ted Evetts faces former women’s world finalist Fallon Sherrock.

Evetts was the dominant force on the Development Tour this season, winning no fewer than eight events to add to his two Challenge Tour triumphs in 2018.

The 22-year-old has lost in straight sets to Gerwyn Price in each of his two previous William Hill World Championship appearances but starts out in an unprecedented position of being the huge odds-on favourite going into his first match.

Sherrock is making her eagerly-awaited PDC World Championship debut after coming through the Women’s UK & Ireland qualifier and will be determined to give a good account of herself on the biggest platform of all.

A former World Trophy winner, Sherrock won the Denmark Open and Denmark Masters in May and has regularly competed against PDC professionals on the exhibition circuit.

Arguably the most closely-matched tie of the evening sees two-time ranking event winner Jose De Sousa take on Brisbane Masters champion Damon Heta.

De Sousa has enjoyed a sensational first season as a PDC Tour Card holder, qualifying for his third World Championship as the second highest ranked player from the ProTour Order of Merit.

The 45-year-old has become the flag-bearer for steel-tip darts in Portugal and will look to replicate his red hot floor form on the sport’s biggest stage in a bid to set up a Second Round show-down with his stablemate Glen Durrant.

Heta has also enjoyed his most successful year to date, notably claiming a fairy-tale first PDC title as a qualifier at the Brisbane Masters in August.

The Perth thrower, who plans to enter Qualifying School and relocate to the UK, topped the DPA Order of Merit to secure a dream debut at Ally Pally.

The opening match of the night sees debutant Ritchie Edhouse aim to come through a tricky test against Russia’s Boris Koltsov.

Edhouse has been rewarded for his fine form on the Challenge Tour in recent years, having claimed a title earlier this year to gain a place in several ProTour events, through which he has earned a spot at Ally Pally for the first time.

Koltsov is making his fourth appearance on this famous stage and is searching for his first win, having also shown promise on the Challenge Tour this term.

The 31-year-old was a quarter-finalist in the 2017 PDC World Cup and has won a Challenge Tour event and reached a further final in a breakthrough 2019.

The action gets underway from 7pm GMT, with First Round and Second Round matches to be contested over the best of five sets, best of five legs per set.

A tie-break will be in operation from the second round onwards, where the final set must be won by two clear legs. If the score reaches 5-5, the 11th leg will be sudden-death.

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William Hill World Championship 2019/20 Match Schedule

Tuesday December 17

First Round

7.15pm Ritchie Edhouse v Boris Koltsov
8.15pm Jose De Sousa v Damon Heta
9.15pm Ted Evetts v Fallon Sherrock
10.15pm Jeffrey de Zwaan v Darin Young (Second Round)