29/01/2021

In-form King eases past Durrant, Suljovic claims scrappy affair against White

Mervyn King has set out an early benchmark during the opening night at The Masters in Milton Keynes dispatching Premier League champion, Glen Durrant with ease.

It was a debut to forget for an under par Durrant with King claiming it 6-1 with a 102 average and 6/7 on his doubles as he continues the form he exhibited in the back end of 2020.

Prize money breakdown for the 2021 Masters with £220,000 on offer

Durrant took the opening leg but only for King to claim successive legs to make it 2-1. His advantage continued as he broke throw with a 58 checkout to head 3-1 up.

The Premier League champion began King's leg with a 180 as he aimed to break back immediately. But this wasn't the case as King held throw with a 120 checkout to head 4-1 up.

Double 12 saw another break for King as he went 5-1 up with a 102 average and one away from the next round. He concluded it in style from there with a 105 checkout to set up a clash with Rob Cross.

TV Guide ITV 4 for The Masters 2021

While from the sublime to the scrappy as Mensur Suljovic began proceedings with a 6-3 victory over Ian White which displayed the post World Championship rust in full effect.

This saw White miss 23 darts at doubles which equated to 11% while Suljovic was at 5/16 with 31% on the doubles as he will now take on Nathan Aspinall tomorrow in the second round.

It started off well for White who hit a 180 and double two to claim the opening leg but Suljovic surged into a 3-1 lead from there including a 104 checkout to book end a break of throw.

White remained in contention to trail 3-2 at the break but squandered five darts at doubles and Suljovic moved one away at 5-2 up.

But despite White breaking to make it 5-3, missed doubles came back to haunt him as Suljovic pinned double two to move through.