Sixth seed Liam Maendl-Lawrance falls as Jason Brandon makes light work of Hannes Schnier at Lakeside in statement debut

Sybren Gijbels is into the Last 16 of the 2024 Lakeside WDF World Championship after taking down sixth seed Liam Maendl-Lawrance who again failed to live up to his billing on the Frimley Green stage.

Gijbels has been one of a slew of Belgians who have made strides this week with Brian Raman set to face Francois Schweyen tonight as one more will fall but one more will join the former. It was a gruelling tie between the pair that Gijbels sealed down the stretch.

After a mixed start to the match, Gijbels secured the first leg with a 19-darter. However, another 19-darter gave Maendl-Lawrance the 1-1 equaliser shortly afterwards. Gijbels stepped up the pace with a maximum at the start of the third leg before taking a 2-1 lead in 14-darters. Maendl-Lawrance levelled the first set again with an 80 checkout in 15 darts. Nevertheless, the first set went to the Belgian after another 19-darter.

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Maendl-Lawrance benefited from three missed darts at double from his opponent, which he capitalised on with a 21-darter to take a 1-0 lead. Despite a lot of scoring pressure from his opponent, who had equalised to 1-1 in the legs in the meantime, Maendl-Lawrance showed his nerves of steel and secured the 2-1 lead in set two with a hit on double 19. With a strong 140, the German got himself back into business on his opponent's throw and finally rewarded himself with a 40 checkout to level the set at 1-1.

Both players also struggled with their darts at the start of the third set. After a few missed darts, Maendl-Lawrance made a valuable break in 22 darts. Although Gijbels immediately had chances to break back, the Belgian failed time and again on the outer ring. Maendl-Lawrance punished his opponent again and increased his lead to 2-0. Gijbels reduced the lead to 1-2 after further huge double problems, but failed to break back. Maendl-Lawrance proved his calmness as he checked 80 points in two darts and made it 2-1 in sets.

Gijbels got off to the better start in set four and broke his German opponent with a 112 checkout after 21 darts. Compared to the previous problems on the outer ring, Gijbels now played himself into a little frenzy: The Belgian followed up with another high finish and checked out 114 points to take a 2-0 lead in the legs.

A 180 at the start of the third leg gave Maendl-Lawrance a comfortable lead, which he used to close the gap to 1-2 with a 20 checkout. But Gijbels proved his scoring strength on his own throw and played himself into the finishing area with scores of 135 and 180 after 9 darts.In keeping with his horror day on the doubles, Gijbels finally secured the 2-2 set equaliser on double 1.

The deciding fifth set was a set with the darts by the Belgian, which Gijbels led 1-0 after a 48 checkout in 17 darts. Gijbels again benefited from his stronger scoring and earned two break chances on double 20 and double 10, but the Belgian again missed valuable darts, allowing Maendl-Lawrance to level the score at 1-1 on double 20. With the help of another 180, Gijbels kept everything under control in the third leg and took a 2-1 lead with a hit on double five. The Belgian stole the show again in the fourth leg of the set with his scoring and secured the 3-2 win with a final 48 checkout.

While it was an emphatic win for Jason Brandon. A Lakeside debut can either go very wrong or can be a delight and it was the latter for the American.

He emphatically took care of business in straight sets 3-0 and now faces the Belgian in the Last 16. He breezed through the opening set and opened the second with a 15-darter and doubled his lead with a 64 checkout.

He averaged 88 in the end as he sealed the final set 3-0 including a 13-darter to start the set in which he was averaging 115. A player to watch?