Price survives scare from Mawson, Aspinall eases past Brenneman as US Darts Masters begins in Las Vegas

The US Darts Masters has begun at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas with Gerwyn Price surviving a scare and Nathan Aspinall enjoying a brilliant debut.

Price came through in a 6-4 win against former UK Open finalist Gary Mawson; but doubles were his achilles heel which saw a upset on the cards. He sets up a potential second round tie against Gary Anderson next as a result though.

Aspinall enjoyed a more easier time of it against Canadian, Shawn Brenneman also known as 'The Man'. It was 'The Asp' who prevailed though in a successful start to World Series action for the UK Open champion.

In the first match, Price took the first leg with ease but Mawson began to find his range and rattled in a 180 as well as a 66 checkout to level it up. 'The Mauler' broke the throw to continue this good start to proceedings and throw up early thoughts of a shock.

'The Iceman' let out his first roar of the match smashing in a 180 and breaking straight back though to dispel those at least for the minute despite missed doubles from Mawson in the end to extend his lead.

He executed a brilliant set up shot in the form of a 120 where he went 20, Bull, Bull and then hit double eight to regain the lead. A brilliant 180 and double 10 saw Price continue in that vein and break throw again at 4-2 up.

He nearly delighted the Las Vegas crowd with a 170 checkout but missed inside the 25 and had double trouble from there which allowed Mawson to come back and break back with a 44 checkout.

It ended up at parity at 4-4 to ask questions of Price who continued to falter on the doubles. Despite that though, his scoring was still there and he smashed in a 180 and double 12 to go one away at 5-4.

Another 180 was thrown in by Price which signalled the beginning of the end. That duly came with the Welshman surviving a scare from Mawson.

Aspinall started his debut on the World Series very well with 'The Asp' nearly hitting a 167 checkout to make it 2-0 and he finished the leg on double four to take the early advantage. A brilliant 180 followed by a 32 checkout saw him go half-way to a debut win.

Brenneman claimed a first leg after four attempts at double but the UK Open champion hit a second 180 to begin the following leg and smashed in an excellent 121 checkout to go 4-1 up.

A 108 checkout saw Aspinall edge closer to the winning line at 5-2. For the Stockport ace a 54 checkout saw him ease over the winning line in the form of a 6-2 victory.

Click here for more information on the US Darts Masters, the first World Series event of the season.

Schedule of Play

Thursday July 4 (20:00 BST)
First round
Gerwyn Price (94.72) 6-4 (83.06) Gary Mawson
Nathan Aspinall (98.29) 6-2 (82.01) Shawn Brenneman
Daryl Gurney v Daniel Baggish
Michael Smith v Jim Long
Rob Cross v Leonard Gates
Gary Anderson v Elliot Milk
Peter Wright v Jeff Smith
Michael van Gerwen v Darin Young

https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/1146866725452783616