Lewis joins Van Gerwen in Group A winners circle with win over Smith, Thornton produces good performance on return to TV

Adrian Lewis and Robert Thornton are the final winners on Day One at the Grand Slam of Darts with both players performing well to finish the evening session.

Lewis moved to the top of Group A and set up a tie with Michael van Gerwen tomorrow after a 5-2 win over Ross Smith.

Thornton on his return to TV action performed well in defeating Dimitri van den Bergh as he sprung a surprise against 'The Dreammaker'.

Lewis started exceptionally taking out 74 and 95 with two brilliant roars from 'Jackpot' to take a 2-0 lead with an early break of throw.

More missed darts went for Smith and Lewis continued to strengthen his grip on the tie at 3-0 up. 'Smudger' who was having a terrible time on the doubles finally eased his fears but Lewis went one away on double eight. A 42 checkout saw Lewis conclude proceedings though in what was a brilliant win for 'Jackpot'.

The first two legs were shared before Van den Bergh missed two doubles in the third and Thornton hit double seven to lead 2-1.

Van den Bergh though levelled it up from there cleaning up 80 to square proceedings up. Both players produced brilliance though taking out 102 to break throw for a 3-2 advantage and this was confounded by a terrific 160 checkout from 'The Thorn'.

He went one away holding his throw but despite that, Van den Bergh hit a 106 to force a decider at 4-4. Thornton finished it off from there to claim a brilliant win on his return to TV.

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Grand Slam of Darts 2019, Day One

Evening session schedule

Darren Webster (96.7) 3-5 (98.87) William O'Connor (D)
Gerwyn Price (88.21) 5-3 (84.24) Mikuru Suzuki (C)
Ian White (88.94) 5-2 (90.42) Steve Lennon (B)
Gary Anderson (94.75) 5-1 (86.2) Dave Parletti (D)
James Wade (93.72) 5-2 (86.78) Wesley Harms (B)
Michael van Gerwen (97.89) 5-2 (83.34) Jim Williams (A)
Adrian Lewis (87.48) 5-2 (86.11) Ross Smith (A)
Dimitri Van den Bergh (95.44) 4-5 (91.46) Robert Thornton (C)

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