Daryl Gurney denied reigning champion Michael van Gerwen on a thrilling opening night at the World Series of Darts Finals, as Dutch number one Gian van Veen delivered on home soil in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day One of the \u00a3450,000 event saw eight opening round ties take place at AFAS Live, with six-time champion Van Gerwen suffering an early exit at the expense of a nerveless Gurney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Northern Irishman romped into a 3-0 lead, following up legs of 11 and 13 darts with a sensational 170 checkout to leave the Dutch fans shell-shocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen came roaring back with a superb five-leg burst to seize control at 5-3, although the Dutch superstar then spurned six match darts in a dramatic penultimate leg, before Gurney completed the turnaround.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been a long time coming,\u201d reflected Gurney, who will face Ross Smith for a place in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI cannot remember the last time I won a game like that on the big stage, so I\u2019m very pleased with myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been through some tough times over the last couple of months, so to get over the finish line against Michael, in Amsterdam – I\u2019m very pleased with myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen was one of three Dutch stars to exit on Thursday\u2019s opening night, but Van Veen enjoyed a winning start on home soil, running out an emphatic 6-2 winner against Chris Dobey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChris and I were not playing at our best, but the crowd got me through that tonight,\u201d insisted the world number three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to thank them all for their support tonight and hopefully it will be the same on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is always going to be pressure playing in front of your home crowd. As a Dutchman we don\u2019t experience that often, so to do it here in Amsterdam is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Humphries opened his title challenge with a 6-4 success against Jermaine Wattimena, producing an inspired mid-match spell to progress to a fascinating showdown against Dirk van Duijvenbode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries conjured a delightful 132 checkout to claim a crucial break of throw in leg five, which was preceded by a brilliant 171 set-up shot and followed by successive maximums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really enjoyed that. It was a great atmosphere and the crowd were amazing,\u201d claimed Humphries, the reigning US Darts Masters champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were both able to flow and it was a really good game until those missed darts at double, but I fell over the line at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cScoring wise it was a great performance. My doubles weren\u2019t great but I feel that\u2019s a common theme of my game at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just need to put both parts together to perform at that highest level that everyone knows I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2022 runner-up Van Duijvenbode launched a terrific fightback to defeat Sweden\u2019s Viktor Tingstrom in the evening\u2019s opener, reeling off five consecutive legs from 4-1 down to triumph with six 180s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Josh Rock prevailed in arguably the match of the night against Stephen Bunting, overturning a 5-3 deficit to book a meeting with World Championship semi-finalist Ryan Searle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bunting raced into an early lead courtesy of a sublime 161 checkout, only for Rock to respond with a three-leg flurry in the latter stages, which also saw him survive a match dart at bull in the penultimate leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Searle, meanwhile, marked his World Series of Darts Finals debut with a clinical 6-2 success against Rob Cross, converting 66% of his attempts at double in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, former European Champion Smith put in a ruthless display to end the hopes of home favourite Kevin Doets, averaging almost 103 to wrap up a resounding 6-3 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Karel Sedlacek also impressed in the Dutch capital, averaging 99.37 to win through a high-quality affair against New Zealand\u2019s Ben Robb, who succumbed 6-4 despite a perfect doubling success rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World Series of Darts Finals continues on Friday evening, as the opening round draws to a close in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World Champion Luke Littler kicks off his campaign against Danny Noppert, with former champions Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton and James Wade also in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS Daryl Gurney denied reigning champion Michael van Gerwen on a thrilling opening night at the World Series of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-15839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
Round One
<\/strong>Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Viktor Tingstrom
Ryan Searle 6-2 Rob Cross
Karel Sedlacek 6-4 Ben Robb
Ross Smith 6-3 Kevin Doets
Josh Rock 6-5 Stephen Bunting
Luke Humphries 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Michael van Gerwen
Gian van Veen 6-2 Chris Dobey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"