Ryan Searle is through to the second round at the 2020 PDC World Championship after victory over Robbie King in what was a dramatic sudden death tie.
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The story of the game saw Searle playing brilliantly scoring wise hitting 10 180's and a 170 checkout but King never gave up and pounced on missed doubles to send it all the way.
Searle has a potentially winnable tie next up when he takes on Steve West and after his good run last time out and a subsequent poor year, he will hope this win can kick start his revival again.
King started the match by thrilling the crowd with his 180 attempt which went in and he claimed the early break from there.
Searle though hit back with a 180 of his own and King couldn't reproduce the heroics of the previous leg as 'Heavy Metal' eased to a break back of his own with a 94 checkout.
He extended that advantage with a 38 checkout on double 19 as he went from losing his throw early to dominating proceedings.
This domination didn't last though for Searle as 'The Rocket' lived up to his moniker by surging to the first set.
Searle though got it together in the requisite set putting his 180 count up to six as he claimed the second set. The issue came on the doubles with him down at 16 missed darts at double at that point.
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He continued to add to his lead in the next set pinning a 170 checkout to double his lead and go towards a 2-1 lead. Despite that, King forced a deciding leg which he won to force Searle into winning the hard way even though Searle was playing better on the scoring.
Searle went up 2-0 in the next set also with the darts likely to creep into his mind that he can turn it around but this wasn't the case as he took the set to force a decider.
He hit the front in the decider hitting his ninth 180 but King would not give up finishing 72 to make it 1-1 and this happened again with him forcing a decider in a befitting end to the game.
Searle hit 134 to leave himself on 66 and it helped after King missed the opportunity to claim victory and he did so himself.
Click here for more information on the PDC World Championship, which takes place at the Alexandra Palace between December 13 and January 1.
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World Darts Championship 2020 schedule
Tuesday December 17, afternoon session
Ryan Searle (86.95) 3-2 (80.80) Robbie King (R1)
13:30 Cristo Reyes vs Lourence Ilagan (R1)
14:30 Rowby-John Rodriguez vs Noel Malicdem (R1)
15:30 Krzysztof Ratajski vs Zoran Lerchbacher (R2)
13:30 Cristo Reyes vs Lourence Ilagan (R1)
14:30 Rowby-John Rodriguez vs Noel Malicdem (R1)
15:30 Krzysztof Ratajski vs Zoran Lerchbacher (R2)
https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/1206933933503524864?s=20
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