Mervyn King saw off debutant Martijn Kleermaker 2-0 as experience tolled on the World Grand Prix stage and now Gerwyn Price will await 'The King'.
King and Kleermaker both didn't produce their best but as the former stated, the Dutchman's struggles on the doubles were the telling factor.
"To be honest, if he'd have hit what he was looking at double wise, it could have been a different story. The whole tournament double in just mixes everything up, it doesn't matter how good you are on doubles, how good you are on scoring, it's all got to gel at the same time. I got away with that a little bit to be fair," said King post match.
New Unicorn board
The new Unicorn Eclipse Ultra was in play during the opening night and King who was first to use it didn't see any difference.
"It didn't feel any different to other ones we've done. Under the tv lights, the points still went in three quarters of the way, it softened up under the lights so no different."
Pre-match nerves
He also discussed any pre-match nerves and he said that he wished he could get nervous before he got on stage.
"I wish I could get nervous, I've been playing this game too long. If I get nervous, I play better so that wasn't nerves. I wish I could, I just want that butterfly feeling in my stomach."