"I've put a lot of work in behind the scenes to get myself into these events" - Stephen Bunting determined to make the most of World Series call up in Poland

Stephen Bunting made a winning start to his Poland Darts Masters campaign on Friday night. The Bullet comfortably defeated Polish number one Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1 in the opening round. 

Although the crowd showed their love for Ratajski, for 'The Polish Eagle' it was certainly not a night to remember with pleasure. Ratajski managed to hit only one of his 12 chances on the doubles. Five of those misses were in the first leg, before Bunting took the lead with a 16-darter. The recently crowned Masters champion then rushed to a 5-0 lead before Ratajski saved the whitewash with a 118 finish, although Bunting decided the match with a 14-darter in the very next leg.

"I was really nervous before the match. Obviously, playing the home favourite and then the way he started, he put me straight under pressure," the Englishman admitted in his post-match reflection to the assembled press. "But I never faded in the match. I just thought I've got to keep putting him under pressure. I've played in Liverpool before and I know the pressures of playing in front of a home crowd. Thankfully for me, he missed a few doubles and let me in."

Making just his second World Series of Darts appearance this year, Bunting lost out in the quarter-finals to Rob Cross last time out in Copenhagen at the Nordic Darts Masters. Between the two events, Bunting also starred at the most recent block of Players Championship events in Hildesheim, hitting a nine-dart leg. "I've been really looking forward to these two events, Denmark and Poland. I've put a lot of work in behind the scenes to get myself into these events and thankfully I've been picked to play," Bunting assesses. "It's an absolutely amazing country and yeah, I've really enjoyed my time here so far."

In the quarter-finals, Bunting will face off against the in form Rob Cross, who in his own first round tie ran out a 6-1 winner over Sebastian Bialecki.