Smith had to work very hard to qualify for the second day of the New Zealand Darts Masters at the expense of Darren Penhall. 'Bullyboy' gestured to suffering from gusts of wind on stage and eventually needed a deciding leg against his opponent.
In the early stages of the match, he found himself trailing 0-2 before the world number one equalized with a 12-darter and a 15-darter. After that, the legs went with the darts, mostly in six innings. The same was true of the deciding leg, in which Smith hit a 17-darter to take the win.
Noppert on the other hand posted the best performance in the first round of the New Zealand Darts Masters by winning 6-2 over Ben Robb with a 98 average and a 54 percent finish percentage.
The darter from Joure started strong with a 118 finish and ran out to a 4-1 lead via a 13-darter and a 120 finish. Noppert then left 41 after nine darts in the sixth leg and then took the leg with a 13-darter.
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SMITH DEFEATS PENHALL!
Very hard work for Michael Smith as he's pushed all the way by Darren Penhall, but gets over the line in a 6-5 victory!
#NZDarts | First Round
📺bit.ly/NZDM23