Another seed gone! Ryan Joyce freezes Danny Noppert out at the World Darts Championship

Ryan Joyce's recent purple patch in the big stage has continued at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. 'Relentless'has recovered from a set down to defeat Danny Noppert 3-1 and book his spot in the post-Christmas third round at the Alexandra Palace.

For Noppert, it was the seventh time 'The Freeze' has competed at the Ally Pally, but this marks another disappointment for the Dutchman in London. In his six previous participations, Noppert did not make it to the last sixteen once, which is actually a strange statistic for a player who has been in the top-16 of the world rankings for years.

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Noppert then opened with a break himself in set two, but immediately surrendered his own leg. Both players then held their own leg, making it 2-2 after four legs. An important fifth leg started. Noppert was the first to lay for the set, but he missed two set pieces. Joyce then punished these misses by hitting 70.

The third set began with three breaks in a row, two of them in Joyce's favour. The Englishman threw out 124 to make it 2-1. Noppert then left 56 in Joyce's leg with a 180, but 'Relentless' showed relentlessness by throwing a 12-darter to take a 2-1 lead in sets.

Noppert then seemed to be on his way to forcing a deciding set. A 51 finish and a 20-darter gave him a 2-0 lead in the fourth set. Joyce then connected with a 68 check-out and then secured the rebreak with a 13-darter. Joyce needed only one more leg for the win and with a 13-darter the English darter took the spoils.

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