Danny Baggish kept American hopes alive as he stormed into the Top 32 of the William Hill World Championship with a sensational defeat of twice World Champ Adrian Lewis.  Baggish took control early on, and despite the Englishman staging a fightback, struck back in style to capture the winning set.

A nice 14-darter to start the match – against the throw – set the scene, and the first set was over in straight legs. Lewis managed to get a leg on the board in the second set, but it wasn’t enough to prevent him from going two sets down. Despite a tidy 13 from the Florida native, “Jackpot” held on to close the gap.

Lewis needed just 11 darts (134, 180, 171, 16) to take the first leg of the fourth, and followed that up with a 16-darter. Throwing to save the set, Danny chose the perfect time to stick in a 12-dart leg – and a brilliant 170 checkout! Lewis almost responded with a 170 of his own next leg, but missed the bull. He then missed three more at the remaining 25, and a check from 91 made it 2-2! Another 15 darts, and it was all over!

Under the circumstances – brother Harrison suffered a severe stroke yesterday at home in Florida – it really was an incredible performance from the 2019 North American Champion. Our thoughts are with Danny and his family, and he now has a few days off until after the Christmas break, when he takes on Glen Durrant.

Adrian Lewis wasn’t the only former World Champ to exit the tournament today, as Rob Cross went down to Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode in five sets. Sadly, Paul Lim joined Lewis and Cross on the sidelines, thanks to a superb display from Belgian Dimitri Van den Bergh, who posted an average of 105.61.

Big names in action tomorrow include Michael Smith, Stephen Bunting, Scott Waites, and Gary Anderson.

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