Winmau World Masters Round-Up | Damon Heta dumps out dismal Van Gerwen as Price, Van Veen and Anderson star

Michael van Gerwen was the main casualty on the opening night of the 2026 Winmau World Masters with Damon Heta who himself has not exactly had the best time of it lately accounting for him in a 3-1 sets win for 'The Heat'.

Van Gerwen has showed glimmers over the past 6-8 months despite all of his goings on off the oche of a player who is still very much there despite the dominance of the two Luke's - Littler and Humphries but he also faces a bleak future.

He is currently 20th in the Tour Card race after spending nearly a decade in the higher echelons of the game and defeats like this especially the manner in which they are done don't exactly inspire hope. He was pretty dismal as he went down with an 88.3 average in favour of Heta and missed 13 darts at double throughout the contest.

Heta had him under pressure right from the jump as he pounced on a missed chance from 124 to hit double 20 to head in front and he broke with a 124 checkout after Van Gerwen missed 107. True pick pocketry from Heta.
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Van Gerwen hit back and sealed the second set 2-1 despite hitting double two for a 23-darter to claim it. But he missed darts from 81 to seal the set next up and Heta hit 118 to seal a 2-1 lead. More came and went as he missed 97 and Heta hit 60 then 77 to hold and Heta broke to won with a 101 checkout. It was the perfect game for the Aussie Heat of one up mans ship but unfortunately for MVG, it wasn't in his favour.

Gerwyn Price produced one of the best displays of the night as he swept aside James Hurrell 3-0 with a 108 average. He hit 6/9 on the doubles and a high checkout of 92 with four 180's.

Price was facing an opponent that on paper compared to perhaps a year ago is a tough test. Hurrell was utterly superb at the World Darts Championship and also in qualifying yesterday so was likely one of a few perhaps with Nijman and Van Schie that no-one wanted out of the eight qualifiers.

But Price made light work of him despite a 101 average from Hurrell himself. First set was full of breaks but after missing 107, Hurrell was made to rue it as Price hit double 10 for 2-1 and to seal the set 1-0.

He started the second with an 87 checkout for a 12-darter before winning the set on double 20. His win was sealed with a 12-dart 92 checkout and double four with Hurrell waiting on 64.

Nathan Aspinall was down a set against former WDF Champion, Shane McGuirk but came back from an early slip up to rise past the Irishman in an early statement against a player who no doubt will figure in his first year on the tour as a one to watch.

But Aspinall reeled off six straight legs in a row for victory with a 105.8 average and 7/11 on the doubles. McGuirk was superb to start hitting a 141 checkout to win the opening set but with it being first to two, it only really takes a few legs to put the other player bang in trouble.

Despite hitting a 21-darter, it was a 108 checkout for Aspinall to go 1-0 up. He pinned an 11-darter for 2-0 to make it 1-1 in sets. He hit a 60 checkout to make it 2-1 suddenly and go one away in the blink of an eye before completing the job in 13 and 12 hitting 90 for the win.

Gian van Veen is also through to the second round albeit he survived one of the toughest short format tests on paper in Ryan Joyce with 'Relentless' a superb doubling player and over that almost ProTour pseudo first to six over sets format, it saw him lead.

But Van Veen came back from his early snooze to take the second set. He hit a 48 checkout to hold and broke with the same equation for 2-0. He only lost one more leg as he hit a 121 checkout to start set three before holding on double 10.

Van Veen opened set four with an 88 checkout and held with a 46 to win on double 16. Very much job done for 'GVV The Giant'.

Gary Anderson was one of the leading lights in action at the start of the night as 'The Flying Scotsman' held his nerve to dispel the charge of Niels Zonneveld completing a 3-2 win over 'Triple Z' who had come through the qualifiers yesterday.

Zonneveld though was the player out of the blocks early as Anderson faltered on the outer ring and was duly punished by the Dutchman as he hit double 10 to break. He pinned double 10 to seal the opening set.

Being the cutthroat format of first to two legs and almost like a first to six like the ProTour but in sets format, it is even more of an importance to break throw also. Anderson did so in leg one pinning double seven for 1-0 before pinning double 10 for 20.

The next set saw Anderson wire a 144 checkout but showed he was in and amongst it as he mopped up double six to establish a 2-1 lead. Albeit Zonneveld hit a quite brilliant 121 checkout to make it 2-1 to claim the set and make it 2-2. But despite being sent to a decider, Anderson was comfortable in the end as he broke to win it with double 16.

Also through were last year's finalist Jonny Clayton who powered past Wessel Nijman with a 102.8 average and 7/13 on the doubles including a 161 checkout.

Nijman took the opener pinning double eight for a 14-darter but back came Clayton who started with an 11-darter to hold hitting a 81 checkout and held with a 96 checkout for 2-1. He swept the next set 2-0 to take control including a 136 checkout before sealing the deal with a 76 checkout.

James Wade who spoke afterwards about being bitterly disappointed and kicked in the downstairs in regards to his Premier League snub saw off Madars Razma too.

He opened his account with a 124 on the bull but Razma took set one pinning double 18. But back came Wade, he swept the second 2-0 and averaged almost 121 in the third to move 2-1 up against the Latvian. He sealed the win from there averaging over 102 in a high quality tie and didn't look at Razma during the handshake which itself stirred debate.

Chris Dobey kicked off the tournament in style taking down Jermaine Wattimena in straight sets. He won 3-0 against the Dutchman. 'Hollywood' is a former champion in this event albeit prior to the format changing.

Wattimena opened up pinning double four to break but Dobey immediately picked it up a gear pinning 56 for a 12-darter and he hit double 16 to seal the opening set. Dobey hit double 20 to break and followed that up with an 86 checkout to take the second set.

Dobey hit a 61 checkout to go 1-0 up in the next set and then held again for 2-1 on double 18 to seal the win.