Simon Whitlock 10-5 Kyle Anderson
Can't help but feel like Anderson missed a few tricks here, he should have nicked the first leg but had bad third/fourth turns having stolen the darts, which might have given the game a whole different outlook. After that through to the break he didn't do a great deal wrong, Whitlock was mostly efficient in preventing break chances, then he managed to claw it back to 7-5, and then we saw the bad parts of Anderson - a leg where he didn't score, with a chance to break and get back on serve he left only 170 after twelve darts, then to hold to stay in the match he only generated one dart at double having left 121 after nine. Whitlock was solid, but that won't cut it next round - there's very little that will cut it next round though.
Adrian Lewis 10-7 Steve Beaton
Adie looked good here, although the game could have been completely different had Beaton managed to finish 112 in the second leg in the six dart he'd expect to have with Lewis on 140. His icing of the match with a four visit kill to deny Beaton the chance to force him to hold throw and avoid overtime was clinical, 140-140-140-81 out is always a great leg, and he was relentless throughout, eight from ten legs won being in fifteen or less. Beaton kept things interesting, taking advantage of a bad leg six to pull level and hold to 5-5, but not finishing 221 in nine after the break was key, that gave Lewis the break he needed and he didn't give a chance after that. Lewis looks solid, if not quite as explosive on this display, and should be able to overhaul Cross next round if he keeps this up.
Michael van Gerwen 10-4 Stephen Bunting
This threatened to be a whitewash for a while, with van Gerwen rolling the first seven legs, but Bunting was then able to hold twice where van Gerwen didn't really threaten the throw, only leaving 156 after twelve in one and not leaving a finish at all in the same, before Bunting got a break back with van Gerwen missing more darts at double than I usually do in the first leg after the break. It was only a tiny chance, and Bunting couldn't capitalise, you can't expect to win a leg against Michael leaving 90 after six visits, he got one more break but a 160 out for the second four turn kill of the game would put things to bed. This was hit and miss, the legs van Gerwen lose were really mediocre, averaging under 80, and the legs he won were around par for the course. It's a win in the books, but average. Average for MvG wins against more or less anyone though.
Rob Cross 10-7 Ian White
There were plenty of chances for White here - he was doing well enough to finish his first two legs on throw in fifteen darts, but that would have won any of Cross's first five legs on throw. White missed a few, mostly at big combo outs - 151 in the opener, 118 in leg 7, 121 in leg 13, as well as two clear in the deciding leg on the Cross throw. Nick one of those big outs, and that, for want of an awful big cliche, could have been a big momentum changer. Cross was showing some good power legs on a couple of occasions, a twelve straight out from the final break and an eleven to break back and lead 9-7 after White got it back on serve, but will definitely need to tighten up his game, less than one in three on outs contributed a bit to only finishing four of ten winning legs in under fifteen darts.
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