The Grand Slam of Darts continued in Wolverhampton with a Saturday night session in front of a pack crowd, and with several big names on the bill, Michael van Gerwen edged the much-anticipated match of the evening against Beau Greaves, taking a 5-4 win in their Group G encounter at WV Active.
The Dutchman took a 4-2 lead, although both were scoring well, and Greaves then fought back to level, before missing two match darts in the final leg, allowing van Gerwen to return after earlier misses to pin double three to take the points.
‘The Green Machine’ will face Niko Springer in his second group game, as the German again impressed, coming through 5-3 against Gary Anderson.
‘Meenzer-Bub’ took out 152 along the way, and secured a win on his debut in the event.
Defending Champion Luke Littler enjoyed a routine outing in the Midlands, and he coasted to a 5-1 win against Karel Sedlacek in Group E.
‘The Nuke’ was rarely in trouble, and averaged north of 98 to get his defence off to a winning start.
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The night opened with a win in the same group for Connor Scutt, and he edged past World Cup winner Daryl Gurney 5-4. Gurney missed a couple of match darts, and paid the price, with Scutt finding a 25 finish in the final leg to take the points.
Group A looked a tasty one on paper, and Michael Smith gained a confidence-boosting 5-3 win against Nathan Aspinall in their encounter.
Smith took full advantage of a tough evening on the doubles for ‘The Asp’ and the 2022 Champion returned to the big stage after an absence to take maximum points.
The other match in the group saw 2023 winner Luke Humphries breeze to victory, as he blasted past Alex Spellman in a 5-0 whitewash win.
The final match of the evening saw a tricky customer as the opposition for Stephen Bunting, and so it proved, as Alexis Toylo emerged with a 5-4 win in Group C.
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Bunting struggled to get to grips with the methodical approach of the Filipino, and Toylo took full advantage, with a 100 finish with a pair of tops in the final leg completing the job and a career-best win for ‘Cool Cat’.
Luke Woodhouse continued his good recent form, with the Bewdley man taking a solid 5-2 win against Martin Schindler in the first match in Group C.
The action continues with another double session on Sunday.
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