Harrysson/Sakai - I think most thought this one might be a bit closer than it was, but Harrysson moved on. Sakai was only actually close to a break in set one in the final leg, missing two clear for the set, pin that and who knows what might happen for the rest of the game. As was, that started a spate of misses to start set 2, giving Andreas the break, and he just served it out from there. Literally - no further breaks, and he didn't allow Motumo a dart to get a break either. Very nice professional job.
van Duijvenbode/Hurrell - First big shock. Hard to see what was going on - James didn't get going at all in the first set (this is somewhat of a theme in later matches), then looked the complete opposite in set two, then set three becomes weird. Dirk on a double after twelve, misses four and then gets broken, immediately sees Hurrell forget how to score and get the break back, then even more doubles missed, this time James making no mistake with a five visit hold (although he had at least a sixth if he wanted it). Dirk's fourth set was probably the best of the match to make it 2-2, then set five was basically dumpster fire of doubling - Hurrell with a 132 out forcing Dirk into a nine to break - Dirk gives himself a chance after James misses a couple of match darts - doesn't make the same mistake again when DvD misses even more doubles. Chances missed but got to credit Hurrell, he stepped in when he could.
Chisnall/Pietreczko - Bookies had this basically even, I had Dave as a moderate favourite, but maybe there's something underlying that isn't picked up in the data. First set was solid from Pietreczko, second set should have been Dave's but there were so many visits missing two or three clear at a double. Ricardo could probably have sewn this up 3-0 but he missed some doubles to let Chizzy back in (nowhere near as many), and while the fourth was a sweep, Pietreczko had a dart in every leg there as well. Final set saw Dave miss a match dart, a good old sportradar fuck up (thankfully they put the last set up on Youtube so I could see what actually happened), and Pietreczko advancing. Can't really describe this as a shock, but I'm sure some people will have done.
Smith/Zonneveld - Michael's now got the Doets/Zonneveld pair of worlds losses. And this one was basically just lack of scoring, at least in set one, Niels had enough time to get that 3-1 without too much trouble, Smith quickly upped his game with a good set two to level, but would then have a couple of key chances to take the lead - leg two saw Smith get six darts from 47 to break but fail, then he missed one dart in the decider to take it. Zonneveld then swept the fourth to take the match - Michael could really do nothing against the throw, but could have done a lot better in leg two. Pointless attempts at the big fish in that leg maybe cost him there.
Dobey/Gilding - Blimey, seeds are tumbling now. Dobey nicks set one, good combination of big checkouts and misses from both to get us to leg five there, Gilding looked fantastic in set two, only half chance being D7 at the end of a 122 for Dobey, otherwise nothing, while set three was kind of similar, although Chris had very good chances in the first leg, then we had what might have been a turning point with that 167 out from Dobey to break, but even after Andrew missed clear shots to break straight back, he didn't panic and came from 2-0 down to punish a bit of mediocre doubling from Chris and claim the match.
Bunting/Kumar - Really very little to say about this one. Nitin got a couple of legs, could maybe have pinched that one that went on for ages, but apart from that Stephen was always multiple visits ahead.
Probably sort day two later today.
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