Golden Andrew Gilding survives matchdart nerves to see off Martin Lukeman and reach last 32 at World Darts Championship

Andrew Gilding is into the third round at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, seeing off the challenge of Martin Lukeman 3-1 to endure and post-Christmas return to the Alexandra Palace.

With a former UK Open champion in Gilding facing off against this year's losing Grand Slam of Darts finalist in Lukeman, there was plenty of proven quality in this second round tie. In a nervy opening leg though, the pair had about as composure as they did hair on their heads. After multiple missed doubles, eventually Gilding took the opener and as that seemed to settle 'Goldfinger', the 21st seed raced to the opening set in three straight legs.

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Lukeman got off the board in the opening leg of set 2 and then, after some scrappy finishing from Gilding in leg 2, 'Smash' punished to double his advantage in the second leg. A few moments later, Lukeman sealed the set with a dominant hold, levelling up the contest in emphatic style.

The momentum looked set to continue to be on the side of Lukeman in set 3 too, as the Grand Slam finalist made it five legs on the spin to move 2-0 up in the set. Gilding wasn't done yet though, and as he started to up his scoring game, 'Goldfinger' broke the Lukeman throw to keep the set alive before holding to force a deciding leg. Lukeman had the darts in leg 5, but again, he couldn't match Gilding's scoring power and it was the former UK Open champion who took the leg via double 10 to move 2-1 up in sets.

In the first leg of set 4, Gilding really looked to put the hammer down, and was on double 8 after nine darts. Despite some scrappy doubling, he eventually pinned double 1 to take the leg. Thanks in part to his 4th 180 of the match, Gilding then broke the Lukeman throw in the next leg to get to just one leg away from the third round. Gilding had a matchdart in the next leg, but dropping low on tops, Lukeman punished with a 101 checkout to stay alive. Another match winning opportunity came in the next leg for Gilding, but four more matchdarts came and went as Lukeman forced a deciding leg to the 4th set. With his scoring power continuing to be too much for Lukeman, yet more matchdarts came for Gilding in leg 5 and this time he finally nailed tops to seal the win.

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