PDC World Championship 2020 First Round preview: Jamie Hughes vs Zoran Lerchbacher

In the run-up to the 2020 PDC World Championship which begins on Friday, December 13, DartsNews takes a look at the 32 clashes in the first round.

The previews are done in order of the schedule; for the PDC World Championship. One or two previews are posted every day. The complete tournament schedule can be found via this link here.

Jamie Hughes vs. Zoran Lerchbacher

Time: Saturday December 14 at 9:10 PM

Head 2 Head : Jamie Hughes 1-0 Zoran Lerchbacher

Previous meeting: Jamie Hughes 6-3 Zoran Lerchbacher, Players Championship 5 in February 2019

Number of previous PDC World Cup participations: Hughes 0, Lerchbacher 3

Best result Debut 2020 (Hughes); Second round, 2018 (Lerchbacher)

Preview

Jamie Hughes will make his debut at the Alexandra Palace after an excellent first season as a PDC Tour Card Holder; which included a European Tour win mid-season when he claimed the Czech Darts Open.

As a result he gained experience in many of the major tournaments despite first round exits during World Matchplay, World Grand Prix; as well as European Championship and Players Championship Finals.

Hughes has been well known for performing well; without necessarily getting results; but he should ease past Lerchbacher.

The Austrian claimed his fourth qualification by winning the Eastern Europe Qualifying tournament; defeating Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. It may be his fourth; but he has only managed one win before.