Day One report of the PDC Winter Series 2020: Smith wins first ranking title in two years

The PDC Winter Series kicked off on Tuesday afternoon. It was the first day of a five day series which is taking place in the Ricoh Arena, Coventry from November 10-14. 128 players, seeded and non-seeded, will take part in the series every day until Saturday, with a knockout format, seeing one player crowned winner each day.

In addition to the prize money being added to the PDC Order of Merit, a special PDC Winter Series Order of Merit will offer a place in the Grand Slam of Darts for the highest ranked player who hasn’t yet qualified.

The seeded players were the first to action on Day One of the PDC Winter Series and already we have had big names through but also seen some crash out of the pro tour tournaments.

Peter Wright the reigning world champion has not featured since his European Championship triumph after bowing out of the World Cup with Scotland and eased through in his first game of the day with a 6-2 victory over Jeffrey de Zwaan with a 105 average. Peter Wright breezed past Niels Zonneveld, winning 6-1 in the second round of the day.

Quite the opposite of World Cup tournaments for Welshman, Gerwyn Price, who returned with a 6-1 win with a 100 average over Harald Leitinger in his opening match.

For Premier League Champion, Glen Durrant, who is making his return to darts after some time out due to a bout with COVID-19, went flying into a 3-0 lead over Jan Dekker, but fell at the final hurdle when Dekker prevailed the champ’s pressure and won the deciding leg.

Not the picture-perfect start to the Winter Series for the Stoke on Trent darts players as Ian White fell 6-5 in his opener against Jermaine Wattimena and Adrian Lewis also suffered a narrow defeat, losing 6-5 against Gabriel Clemens. However, Andy ‘The Hammer’ Hamilton pulled off a shock win against world number nine Gary Anderson, winning 6-5.

Peter Wright breezed past Niels Zonneveld, winning 6-1 in the second round of the day as ‘Snakebite’ was starting to look a strong favourite going into the last 32 of the players left on day one.

Despite a dominant opening performance, Price couldn’t push past 24 year old Martin Schindler in the last 64. ‘The Wall’ managed to beat ‘The Iceman’ 6-2 and make his way into the final 32 of Day One.

"The Polish Eagle" Krzysztof Ratajski continued his form as of late as he breezed past ‘The Highlander’ John Henderson in the second round of the first day.

Other early results include Keane Barry averaging 101.2 to defeat Ritchie Edhouse 6-5 in a battle of the secondary tour's best. While Michael Smith also avenged multiple defeats to the impressive Boris Krcmar defeating the Croatian 6-2.

The ‘Snakebite’ steam train kept on rolling, as he progressed into the last 16, beating Adam Hunt 6-2 and producing some show-stopping finishes already in this tour.

‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith and ‘The Rockstar’ Joe Cullen carried on their admirable form as of late, beating Ryan Murray and James Wilson respectively to progress into the latter stages of Day One.

Portuguese star Jose De Sousa was continuing his bright efforts in 2020 as he entered the last 16 off the back of a 6-3 win over Andy Boulton. De Sousa, formerly a thrower of the soft tip dart, impressed at the 2020 Summer Series, getting through to the last 16 on three occasions, one going all the way to the final but missing out at the expense of Micheal Van Gerwen.

Danny Noppert looked to spark some more of his 2020 form as he faced fellow Dutchman, Dirk van Duijvenbode, beating him 6-4 to progress into the last 16 of Day One.

Vincent van der Voort cruised past Max Schindler, winning 6-0 against the German who had just knocked out Gerwyn Price. ‘The Machine Gun’ Jermaine Wattimena advanced as he overcame Luke Humphries 6-5. Rob Cross lost out 6-2 against Brendan Dolan and Ron Meulenkamp was victorious over Welsh World Cup winner, Jonny Clayotn, winning 6-5.

The last 16 of Day One produced some eye-catching fixtures on the cards. Michael Smith facing off with Joe Cullen and Peter Wright going up against the brilliant Belgian Dimitri Van den Bergh.

‘Bully Boy’ had a point to prove against Joe Cullen, winning 6-4 would have done his confidence the world of good after crashing out of the World Cup of darts just a week ago.

‘Snakebite’ doesn’t seem to stop producing high quality darts. A feisty encounter awaited him in the last 16 as he faced Dimitri Van den Bergh and with the likes of a staggering 167 checkout and a 136 checkout, the Scotsman came from two early legs behind to win 6-4.

Brendan Dolan and Damon Heta kept on producing solid displays as they passed their way into the last eight as the quarter-finals would bring the two up against each other.

Jermaine Wattimena awaited Vincent Van der Voort in the quarter-finals after surpassing Englishman Simon Stevenson, whilst Van der Voort beat Welshman Jim Williams 6-5.

Jermaine Wattimena continued his thrilling start to the Pro Tour as he beat Vincent van der Voort in an all Dutch clash, winning 6-3 to progress into the semi-finals.

Brendan Dolan eased past Damon Heta, winning 6-0 and Michael Smith was the first top 10 player in the PDC order of merit, through to the last four on the opening day.

The late game of the quarter-finals saw Peter Wright take on Portuguese star, Jose De Sousa and had all the ingredients to be a feisty affair, before a dart was thrown. De Sousa prevailed and managed to knock back Wright in a 6-3 win, to book his place in the final 4.

The ‘Special One’ Jose De Sousa faced ‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith and Jermaine Wattimena faced Brendan Dolan in the semi-finals on a somewhat shocking Day One in Coventry. All players now receiving a minimum of £3,000 for their efforts to progress this far.

A huge test for Michael Smith as he met Jose De Sousa. Smith had a sturdy World Cup campaign representing England and has on some occasions, fallen at the last hurdle, at major PDC events this year. However, this Smith is very different to the Smith at the start of the year. He is throwing more mature darts and has added a dose more consistency into his game. He overcame the ‘Special One’ De Sousa, winning 7-5 to put himself into the Final on Day One.

Jermaine Wattimena also kept his awesome Day One display up as he beat Bredan Dolan 7-3. Two names that certainly go under the radar and have exceeded expectations on the first day of the Winter Series. A superb achievement for both but it’s Wattimena who awaits ‘Bully Boy’ in the Final.

Smith kicked off the final in classic fashion, reeling in the big fish in the first leg of the game. He took an early 2-0 lead but the fight back kicked into gear from Wattimena, as he replied and the game found itself tied at 2 legs each after Wattimena found the madhouse with his final dart.

Back and forth with each player taking one another to the wire and breaking each other’s throw. Smith managed to take a 4-3 lead as he nailed the bullseye in very cultured ‘Bully Boy’ fashion for a 90 checkout.

Despite the endless fightback and never die attitude from Wattimena, Smith won the final 8-6 and was crowned Day One winner, receiving £10,000 and makes a huge statement for the rest of the week’s action.