Van de Pas begins PDC World Championship campaign with tie-break win over Long

Benito van de Pas has began his PDC World Darts Championship campaign for this year by defeating the Canadian qualifier Jim Long in a tense tie-break to begin Friday's afternoon session.

Van de Pas though went two-nil up only to capitulate with the game as a result going to a tiebreak; which he had to seal with a classy 150 checkout. It has not been a great year to 18 months for 'Big Ben' but he will take confidence in holding his nerve to move through. Van de Pas took the first set without much fuss with the Dutchman hitting two 180's and 43% on the doubles as he claimed it 3-1. 'Big Ben' upped his average to 88 and he wrapped up the second set by the same margin as the first which was 3-1. This included 50% on the doubles as he upped that further as well. Long opened up a 2-0 lead in the next set and continued his resurgence into the match by holding his throw to clean sweep the set with a 96 checkout. Van de Pas missed multiple darts to break the throw of Long and streak to a two-nil lead; which would have seen him go one away. He did go one away with a 72 checkout but of course he'd need to break throw to win. Long missed double 12 for a 144 checkout; but despite that Van de Pas went inside the treble 5 meaning he didn't get a shot at the 130 checkout giving all the pressure to the Dutchman to claim the win. 'Big Ben' buckled when going for double 16 for the win; as a result it sent it to a deciding set in which Long would have the throw. At the start of the next set, he messed up when going for the 68 checkout and this allowed Long to hit double 20 with ease and hold throw. Long himself missed darts as Benito started to capitulate but this allowed Van de Pas to pin double four to hold his throw. The Canadian held his throw next leg to go one away and survive the tie-break. Long in the next leg was sitting on double 20 but with last dart in hand, Van de Pas held his nerve to send it to a tie-break. Van de Pas finally ended up sealing the win with a brilliant 150 checkout. for more information about the PDC World Darts Championship, including schedules and the prize fund breakdown. Afternoon session schedule: Benito van de Pas (86.62) 3-2 (85.71) Jim Long (R2) (3-1, 3-1, 0-3, 2-3, 5-30 13:45 John Henderson vs Gabriel Clemens (R2) 14:50 Steve West vs Richard North (R2) 16:00 Kyle Anderson vs Noel Malicdem (R2) ​