Wright battles past Nilsson in last leg decider to survive scare, Smith continues winning run with Labanauskas whitewash at Nordic Darts Masters
PDCFriday, 20 January 2023 at 21:04
Two more players have battled there way into the quarter-finals at the PDC Nordic Darts Masters with Peter Wright and Michael Smith winning their respective matches over Dennis Nilsson and Darius Labanauskas in Copenhagen.
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Peter Wright, sporting a Danish flag-inspired outfit, stumbled out of the blocks with Dennis Nilsson taking a comfortable hold of throw to open the encounter.
Sadly for the former Swedish strongman, Wright despite perhaps not being at his free-flowing best was good enough to get a key break of throw in the third leg. A succession of holds from both followed before Wright missed 5 match darts allowing Nilsson to send the match to a decider. A nerveless 14-dart leg for Wright would finally see off his opponent and secure the 6-5 win and a quarter-final spot.
The most in-form player in the world of darts, Michael Smith continued his fine run by backing up his recent World Championship and Bahrain Darts Masters titles with another win over the always tricky customer Darius Labanauskas.
Averaging 91.09 and firing in three 180's, Smith would romp home to a comfortable whitewash despite a bit of double trouble when crossing the finish line.
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Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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