Message sent? Michael van Gerwen punishes sloppy James Hurrell to make perfect start to 2025 World Darts Championship

Michael van Gerwen has surged past the first hurdle in his quest for a 4th PDC World Darts Championship title, comfortably dispatching James Hurrell 3-0 to end the Friday evening session at the Alexandra Palace, dropping just three legs in the process.

The much anticipated arrival of Michael van Gerwen at the Ally Pally. James Hurrell actually had the advantage of throw in the opening set and started strongly too with a 13-darter. 'MVG' though, who notably hasn't lost his first game at a World Darts Championship in over a decade, responded in kind with a hold throw. After a couple of misses from Hurrell in leg 3, Van Gerwen punished to break throw and then via tops, sealed the opening set in the next leg.

Kicking off the second set with a solid of throw, Van Gerwen upped his average to around the 104 mark. A break of throw followed for a fifth successive leg for the Dutchman, maintaining his 100% success rate on the outer ring. As the infamous Ally Pally wasp then made an appearance, Hurrell stopped the rot to break straight back keep himself in the set. Making a huge mistake though, Hurrell busted on a 140 checkout hitting two treble 20s, failing to punish some Van Gerwen misses and allowing the Dutchman to seal the second set.

Van Gerwen punished some more Hurrell sloppiness to break throw in the opening leg of set 3. Hurrell then missed a dart at tops for an immediate break back, allowing Van Gerwen to leg 2 of the third set and move one away from the victory. Impressively, Hurrell kept himself alive with a 121 checkout in the following, but there was no epic comeback as 'MVG' finished things up at the fourth time of asking, nailing double 2 to the 3-0 win.