Michael van Gerwen produced a dominant performance as he cruised into the third round of the PDC World Darts Championship, needing just over 25 minutes to clinch a 3-0 win over Keane Barry.
The Dutchman, who is looking to atone for his final loss to Michael Smith at the last edition of the tournament, only dropped two legs in what represented a routine start to his bid for a fourth world title.
It wasn’t vintage Van Gerwen in the first set but 21-year-old Barry wasted a chance to level in the second leg before missing the bull in the fourth, allowing his opponent to wrap up the opener with tops.
With the Alexandra Palace crowd behind him, Van Gerwen stepped things up after dropping the first leg of the second set, clocking a stunning 167 finish before going two sets clear with an 18-dart leg.
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From there, Van Gerwen made quick work of breaking Barry’s throw again in the decider before finishing the young Irishman off with a match average of 98.17.
The Dutchman admitted to being a little disappointed in his scoring on stage after the win, though he acknowledged starting with a victory was the only thing that mattered.
“After the first set I thought I could punish him a little bit more. My scoring wasn’t there yet and I’m a little bit disappointed with that, but the important thing was to win the game,” he said.
Dominance from Michael van Gerwen…
📺 https://t.co/f3RU9WUgeb#WCDarts pic.twitter.com/O21hw9FuBi
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 19, 2023
“Every leg is important in these games, you have to fight for every leg. You don’t want to let the fans down here.
“It’s the first round of the World Championship, nobody wants to lose and there’s a lot of pressure on me and the other top boys. But I’m going to see everyone again after Christmas.”
Van Gerwen will now face one of Kim Huybrechts, Richard Veenstra or Ben Robb for a place in the last 16 when the third round takes place next week.
