Michael van Gerwen beat Luke Littler 10-6 in their eagerly-anticipated first-round clash at the World Matchplay on Monday.
In the 10th meeting between the pair, Van Gerwen proved his critics wrong after a run of disappointing form this year and denied Littler a first win on debut at the Winter Gardens. Van Gerwen was visibly emotional post-match and will face Joe Cullen in the second round.
Remarkably Smith won seven legs in a row to lead 7-3 as Anderson appeared unhappy with some fans mocking Scotland, at one point signalling '2-1' in reference to the scoreline by which England lost to Spain in the Euro 2024 final. Smith, who has a best result of runner-up at the Matchplay in 2019, was on incredible form as he dropped just two more legs. '3-0 down, I wasn't playing well. I had two shots at 85 but what was annoying me was I kept hitting five,' he said.
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