Stephen Bunting cruised to the fourth round of the World Darts Championship on a dramatic afternoon that saw Damon Heta hit a nine-pointer.
Bunting is one of the dark horses of the tournament. Especially with half of the original 32 seeds already gone, and he beat Latvia’s Madars Razma 4-1 despite being far from his best.
The former Lakeside champion, whose best performance of 2021 saw them reach the semi-finals at Alexandra Palace, will play Luke Woodhouse in the comeback win over Heta 4-3.
“With this crowd behind you, you can win anything. They were once again unbelievable. Thank you all!” Bunting said. sky sports darts.
“I thought I had a pretty good run there, but Razma never left and you guys… wow. Let’s go bunting mental!”
Heta nine-darter sparks wild celebrations before defeat
In his first match after the short Christmas break, Heta recorded his second perfect leg in this year’s tournament but lost 4-3 to Luke Woodhouse.
Heta came close to a nine-darter in the first game but wowed the Ally Pally crowd in the second set, with Woodhouse also celebrating wildly at the special moment. Dutchman Christian Kist made the first perfect leg in the opening round last week and also lost the match.
The record for most 9-darters at a World Championship is three in 2022, so one more player would equal that record.
Heta led 3-1 but the momentum suddenly shifted to Woodhouse as he won nine legs on the spin to reach the last 16 for the first time in his career.
“Me and Damon are good friends. We play golf and practice together,” Woodhouse said. sky sports darts.
“I know the crowd went wild when he missed a double 12 in the first game and he hit a 9-darter on me. I couldn’t help but celebrate with him.”
Heta won £60,000 from a nine-darter, as did a lucky fan in the Ally Pally crowd, while tournament sponsor Paddy Power also donated £60,000 to Prostate Cancer to mark the moment.
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Luke Woodhouse shares his reaction after his 4-3 win over Damon Heta and why he celebrated when Heta hit a nine-darter against him.
In the afternoon’s other match, Jonny Clayton held off a counterattack from Northern Ireland’s Daryl Gurney to make it 4-3.
Clayton took a 3-0 lead, but Gurney dug deep to send the match to a deciding set. But Clayton found the decisive break and will face either Gerwyn Price or Joe Cullen in the next round.
Price plays Cullen in the opening match of Friday’s 7pm session, which sees Peter Wright take on Jermaine Wattimena and defending champion Luke Humphries close out against Nick Kenny.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live and exclusively until Friday 3 January on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and other top sports with NOW
