Simon Whitlock has produced more wizardry and continued his spell over Michael van Gerwen with a sixth straight win over 'The Green Machine' who will not add to his
European Tour tally this week at the
Hungarian Darts Trophy.
Whitlock sealed a thrilling 6-5 win over Van Gerwen punishing 25 missed darts as MVG seemingly had a mental block when trying to defeat the Aussie ace with defeat also coming as of late in the World Series to 'The Wizard'.
Starting the match strongly, Van Gerwen went into a 3-1 lead but a break of throw in the form of an 11-darter always proved the difference from Whitlock as he made it 3-3.
He consolidated it on double 12 for a 13-darter to go 4-3 up before a crazy leg which saw Whitlock hold at 5-4 but only on double one after both players missed droves of doubles.
In the requisite leg, Van Gerwen was thankful that Whitlock was not on a makeable finish as he again chased round the board but a superb decider saw Whitlock claim it first time on double 20 and he will return to face Ryan Meikle in a wide open draw tomorrow.
This was added further by the defeat of Peter Wright on his return to the European Tour and darting action after surgery from gallstones as he lost to
Jim Williams in a thrilling tie.
Williams looked to be heading out but recovered from 5-3 down and survived two match darts to claim it 6-5 in the deciding leg with a 98.7 average and four 180's en route.
Nathan Aspinall is one of only a few seeded players through as he saw off Stephen Bunting albeit not being at his best average wise sealing it 6-3.
Albeit only setting a mark of 88 to 91 from his opponent who in particular hit seven 140's and three 180's but was poor on the outer ring with only 3/16 compared to 50% from Aspinall who hit a high checkout of 107 and is the final player to move through.