Joyce is nicknamed Relentless and it showed on the doubles. He only needed thirteen arrows to open his nine legs and also recorded a finish percentage of 75 percent.
The first set went convincingly 3-1 to the Englishman. Wright started to play better in the second set, but failed at the important moments. In the second leg of set two, Snakebite missed twelve arrows to open the leg.
In leg four of this set, Wright needed eight arrows to open. Still, the world number two still had opportunities to take the set. However, Wright missed two darts to force a third set, before Joyce hit double 18 to claim the victory.
Gerwyn Price booked a hard-fought victory over Jermaine Wattimena. The Iceman especially made it very difficult for himself by missing many opening doubles. Scoringwise, the Welshman was significantly better than the Dutchman and therefore Price avoided overtime by winning both sets 3-2.
I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
PETER WRIGHT IS OUT!!
A brilliant performance from Ryan Joyce, coupled with some starting double trouble for Wright sees the World Champion crashing out in the first round.
#WGP2020