Gurney impressive in victory against Baggish, Smith edges past Long

Gurney came through in a 6-1 win against Daniel Baggish but his scoreline shouldn't be a marker because barring missed doubles from his opponent, it could have been a lot closer.

'Superchin' came out though and produced some brilliant darts to claim the victory and start off well in Las Vegas. Smith could have been going home early with 'Bully Boy' who has had a poor time of it in the last few months pushed all the way by the well-known Jim Long.

Bounceouts and poor scoring at times plagued the World Championship and Premier League finalist; despite that though there was flashes of brilliance from the St Helens ace in a close run affair.

In the first tie, Gurney started really well and claimed the first leg despite leaving double 15 and missing his first three darts at the requisite target. Baggish looked good and lived up to some hype but lost his throw as 'Superchin' continued to play well with a timely 180 producing for him.

He held throw successfully and restricted his opponent once again meaning at this point, Baggish wasn't allowed a dart at the double. The Guam born thrower finally had darts at double and he missed six darts for his first leg. Gurney punished and broke again to go 4-0 up.

Baggish finally claimed a leg breaking back with a 87 checkout to ask questions of Gurney. The Northern Irishman answered the question with a clinical 116 checkout; with Baggish sat on a 66 checkout to get further back into the tie.

The World Number Three concluded the win against Baggish in a brilliant performance to throw him into early contention for the title at the Mandalay Bay.

Long started his tie against Smith by holding throw but was pegged back by 'Bully Boy' who cleaned up 87 on the bull for 1-1. Despite multiple bounceouts, he broke the throw of the Canadian to go 2-1 up.

A timely 180 from Long though gave him a break back to keep himself very much in the tie. He missed darts though to go into the lead again and a class 126 checkout from Smith saw him grab the break again.

Smith squandered darts to go 4-2 up and Long came back to 4-3. He found his range again though in the following leg smashing in a brilliant 131 checkout to go 5-3 up.

'Bully Boy' missed a 139 checkout to claim the win and Long put it to a 5-4 deficit to potentially make it a thrilling conclusion. That didn't happen though and Smith claimed the win.

Click here for more information on the US Darts Masters, the first World Series event of the season.

Thursday July 4 (20:00 BST)
First round
Gerwyn Price (94.72) 6-4 (83.06) Gary Mawson
Nathan Aspinall (98.29) 6-2 (82.01) Shawn Brenneman
Daryl Gurney (97.1) 6-1 (92.59) Daniel Baggish
Michael Smith (92.9) 6-4 (86.76) Jim Long
Rob Cross v Leonard Gates
Gary Anderson v Elliot Milk
Peter Wright v Jeff Smith
Michael van Gerwen v Darin Young

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