Smith mounts comeback to edge out Hughes and move through to second round

Smith was 6-3 down but recovered well and used his experience to see off 'Yozza' who had a brilliant debut on the Winter Gardens stage despite losing out to the St Helens ace.

Hughes endured a dream start to proceeding claiming an early break of throw to open up a 3-1 advantage and by the first interval he was 4-1 up and cruising with a 98 average compared to 91 from Smith.

He missed the bull for a 127 checkout to go 5-2 up and Smith came back to trail 5-3 but Hughes continued his brilliance with a 128 checkout in the following leg. A 11-darter from Smith though brought him back to the foray going 6-4 behind.

Smith started the next mini-session superbly hitting an 86 bullseye on the bull for a 12-darter and a 6-5 deficit. He made it parity at 6-6 to make it three legs on the spin and he increased his average to just under 103.

The turning point came when Hughes missed three at double eight and Smith hit the front. He established a bigger lead at 8-6 and despite the Tipton ace going one behind, a shanghai finish brought Smith closer and he completed the job to finish off a brilliant tie.

Click here for more information on this year’s World Matchplay.

First Round
Darren Webster (88.61) 5-10 (89.23) Krzysztof Ratajski
Dave Chisnall (97.69) 9 (19) 11 (94.71) Max Hopp
Ian White (98.24) 10-0 (88.63) Joe Cullen
Michael Smith (98.78) 10-7 (97.54) Jamie Hughes

https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/1152969586121166848