Jeff Smith
produced a late comeback to see off
Fallon Sherrock on the opening night of the
World Series of Darts Finals.
Smith was
5-1 down and seemingly heading out in Salzburg but Sherrock missed multiple
match darts and ‘The Silencer’ came back superbly to win through in a decider
against ‘The Queen of the Palace’.
Smith
started with a 17-dart hold of throw but Sherrock started to find some quality
darts in the form of a 140 and 180 followed by a 60 checkout to make it 1-1.
She missed
double four for a 116 checkout to break throw but despite missing three at
double two, Smith missed the chance at a 108 checkout and Sherrock pinned it
second time of asking to claim the lead.
Smith
missed double 19 for a 155 checkout and Sherrock hit double 16 to make it 3-1
to hold throw and at the interval was two away with an 11-darter seeing The
Queen of the Palace take control in the tie.
She
continued to procession by hitting double 16 for 5-1 to go one away but wasn’t
over the winning line yet as Smith hit double two last dart in hand to stop the
rot. He stole
the throw in the requisite leg hitting a first 180 as he attempted a comeback and
after Sherrock couldn’t punish missing a match dart, he pinned double 20 to
make it 5-3.
More missed
match darts passed Sherrock by and Smith pegged another leg back. He made it
four in a row hitting double two to send it all the way at 5-5 and he had the
throw for the match. A 138 set
up shot from Sherrock after a poor start to the leg put pressure on but Smith
pinned 109 for the match.
Also out in
the opening round is home hero
Mensur Suljovic after losing out to Krzysztof
Ratajski in a thrilling tie. Ratajski
came from 3-1 down reeling off five consecutive legs to see off ‘The Gentle’
6-3 with a 99 average and high checkouts of 144 and 141 en route.
Suljovic
had a superb start to proceedings hitting a 121 to take the first leg but
Ratajski hit back with a 144 to get off the mark. ‘The Gentle’
though replied with two 180’s en route to an 11-darter to make it 3-1. Ratajski
hit his first 180 en route to a 141 to hold throw, at the break it was 3-2 to
Suljovic in a superb start to the tie.
It was
three straight legs for Ratajski as he upped his standard and hit the front 4-3
with a 105 average. Suljovic missed three darts to hold and Ratajski pinned a
50 checkout on double 16 to break and go one away.
Ratajski
missed double 20 for an 82 checkout for the match but Suljovic once more missed
two at double 20 and one at double 10 and Ratajski didn’t fail on the latter
target pinning it for victory.
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World
Series of Darts Finals , including the tournament bracket,
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Schedule
World Series of Darts Finals 2020
Friday
September 18 (1900 BST)
First Round
Harry
Ward (85.35) 2-6 (91.43) Darius Labanauskas
Ian
White (89.72) 5-6 (89.41) Damon Heta
Cody
Harris (89.72) 6-2 (78.92) Dave Chisnall
Vincent
van der Voort (95.94) 6-0 (83.73) Joe Cullen
Jeff Smith
(86.57) 6-5 (85.11) Fallon Sherrock
Krzysztof
Ratajski (99.71) 6-3 (102.64) Mensur Suljovic
Glen
Durrant v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Simon
Whitlock v Steve Beaton