Wright avoids Sherrock scare on opening night

Wright avoids Sherrock scare on opening night

Peter Wright was pushed all the way by Fallon Sherrock on the opening night of the 2022 Jack's World Series of Darts Finals on Friday in Amsterdam, with the World Champion running out a 6-4 victor.

Wright ended the match with a 103.52 average, over 15 points higher than his opponent, but Sherrock's perfection on the doubles made it a close and captivating contest.

Sherrock, a recent winner of the inaugural Women's World Matchplay, produced trademark finishes under pressure in front of the sell-out crowd at the AFAS Live, pinning the bull for a 73 checkout to lead 3-2, before landing a 120 finish to level at 4-4.

However, Wright kept his cool, with legs of 13 and 15 darts enough to prevent a last-leg shoot-out and book his place in round two where he will face Michael Smith in a repeat of January's World Championship final.

The opening night of the World Series showpiece saw a further seven first round ties take place, with the winners advancing to face one of the eight seeded players in Saturday's second round.

Dutch duo Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode enjoyed victories on home soil against Simon Whitlock and Haupai Puha respectively.

Noppert raised the roof with a 170 checkout in his win over Whitlock to set up a meeting with reigning champion Jonny Clayton, while Van Duijvenbode came through a last-leg decider against New Zealander Puha and will next face Gary Anderson.

Vincent van der Voort was unable to make it a trio of Dutch successes as he went down 6-3 to Canada's Matt Campbell, whose next test will come against world number one Gerwyn Price.

Michael van Gerwen will begin his bid for a fifth World Series Finals title against Damon Heta, who ran out a 6-3 winner against Gordon Mathers in an all-Australian affair.

Leonard Gates enjoyed victory in his first TV appearance outside of USA, defeating Devon Petersen 6-4 to set up a clash with James Wade.

Gates' countryman Danny Baggish was narrowly denied in a last-leg decider by Ryan Joyce, who will now face top seed Dimitri Van den Bergh, while Dave Chisnall claimed a 6-3 win over Jamie Hughes and he will next meet Joe Cullen.