Although he was far from his best, Peter Wright was still more than good enough to get his 2024 Poland Darts Masters campaign underway with a win. The two-time world champion whitewashed television debutant Jacek Krupka on Friday night.
Although Krupka averaged just 64.91 on his first major appearance. The Pole still had six chances to take a leg against "Snakebite" but failed to cash in. Four of these chances came as early as the first leg. This leg eventually went to Wright with a 23-darter. In the second leg, Krupka had two more chances to win the match, but these also went up in smoke. With a second consecutive 23-darter, Wright doubled his lead. A 19-darter followed in the third leg, before Wright produced a decent leg for the first time with a 15-darter in the fourth leg. The Scot seemed to have finally found his range and concluded the match with two more 15-darters for a 6-0 victory.
"I couldn't hit anything in the first four legs," The Scot admits in his post-match reflection with the press assembled in Poland. "I don't know why, they were going alright in the practice room. Maybe there was a bit of nerves there, I don't know. They just wouldn't go in. I was thinking: Have I made the right choice? But they got there in the end. It's a win."
Although is vastly experienced on the World Series of Darts circuit, this is actually his first time at the Poland Darts Masters. "I don't think they've got anyone else to pick, so they have to pick me and have their crazy clown," Wright jokes. "It's great to be part of it obviously and they could have put many more players instead of my place, but they put me in and hopefully I'll upset a few guys on the way through to win this one."
If Wright is end the weekend with success however, the Scot will have to up his level from the 81.98 average posted in the opening round. In the quarter-final later tonight, he takes on teenage sensation, Luke Littler. It will be the fourth time this season that 'The Nuke' and 'Snakebite' have faced each other and notably, Littler has won all three previous confrontations.