"I want to win the whole thing!" – Lakeside debutant Alex Williams sends out warning after miraculous comeback win

Alex Williams delivered one of the standout performances of the opening night at Lakeside, overturning a two-set deficit to defeat Romeo Grbavac 3–2 on his WDF World Championship debut. The Welshman’s recovery was impressive on its own, but it was his post-match message that resonated even more strongly: he has arrived with genuine ambition.

Williams walked into a difficult fixture. Grbavac, who has appeared at the World Cup and Ally Pally, opened with a blistering first set averaging over 108, then doubled his advantage with a 120 checkout to take the second 3–1. At 2–0 down in a race to three, the debutant’s margin for error effectively vanished.

But the response was emphatic. Williams swept the third set 3–0 and went on to win six of the next seven legs, dragging himself level at 2–2 and completely reshaping the contest. In the final-set decider, the pair exchanged holds before a tense last leg in which both men missed match darts. Williams, who had earlier missed one from 144, eventually pinned double five to complete the turnaround.

Reflecting afterwards, he was clear about the mentality that drove him through the match. “I knew I had an incredibly hard draw coming into this competition,” he said. “Romeo is a seasoned veteran — he’s been there and he’s done it. Going two sets down… I don’t know. It’s just the resilience in me. I want to win. I want to win the whole thing. I didn’t come here to lose.”

Williams acknowledged that both opportunities and pressure moments shaped the contest, giving credit to Grbavac for his part in a gruelling five-setter.

“He let me in in a lot of legs,” he noted. “I hit a lot of 180s — I don’t know how many — but my scoring was a little bit here or there. He missed a couple of doubles, not many, to let me in.”

He also described the moment he stepped up for the winning shot in the decider. “In the periphery of my vision, I saw him with his hands on the table when I went to hit that 10. I knew he was done and I knew it was going in. I’m just glad it did.”

The reward for his comeback is a second-round meeting with top seed Jimmy van Schie, a player Williams knows well and regularly practises with. “I know Jimmy really well. He’s an absolutely lovely fellow,” he said. “He’s going to be one of the best players, I personally think, in the PDC. But I’ve won that game now, and I’m not coming here tomorrow to lose.”

Williams believes the standard he produced in the latter stages against Grbavac is a true reflection of his capabilities. “Of course I think I can win it. Do I think it’s going to be a tough battle? Of course it is. If I do what I did today against Jimmy… I just need luck on my side, I think.”

For a first appearance on the Lakeside stage, Williams’ composure under pressure — especially after falling two sets behind — was striking. Yet it was his clarity of purpose afterwards that stood out most. “I don’t come to any competition to lose,” he said — a message as direct as his finishing in that final leg.

Jimmy van Schie will offer a formidable test, but Williams moves forward having turned his debut into a genuine statement of intent.