Australia's duo of Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta are seen by many as a real outside bet for the title this weekend at the World Cup of Darts and they started their campaign with a 5-0 win over Italy to end the opening night.
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With the passing of their friend and former World Cup teammate in Whitlock's case, Kyle Anderson, they wore patches on their arm to pay tribute.
With the crowd in Jena chanting 'There's only one Kyle Anderson' with the hope now that they can mount a challenge for the title in his honour. This will continue against USA (Danny Lauby and Chuck Puleo) in the second round.
It was a scrappy opening leg but with Italy making a poor start to it, Whitlock took double 16 for the opening leg for Australia.
A 180 was pinned by Whitlock and after missing an initial opportunity off a 76, Heta hit double 10 to make it 2-0 with a break.
Turetta attempted to give himself a confidence boost with a 140 but Whitlock returned anyway for double seven after the former strayed into single one off an 84. It was a 3-0 win and they were cruising to victory.
It was another 180 for Whitlock who left Heta 121 which he set up for double 16 and a 4-0 lead. A 140 began their throw as they looked to conclude it and Whitlock hit 55 to whitewash Italy.
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🇦🇺 𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗖𝗥𝗨𝗜𝗦𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 🇦🇺
A comfortable night's work for the Australian duo as Whitlock and Heta whitewash the Italian pairing to close out the opening night of the 2021 Cazoo World Cup of Darts!