Peter Wright began the defence of his Betfred World Matchplay title with victory over Madars Razma as debutant Rowby-John Rodriguez dumped out eighth seed Jonny Clayton on a thrilling opening night at the Winter Gardens.
Wright is aiming to become just the fourth player in World Matchplay history to retain the coveted Phil Taylor Trophy, and he eased through to round two with a routine 10-4 win over debutant Razma.
The world number one punished a sluggish start from the Latvian to race into a 5-0 lead, landing a brace of 13-darters and converting a clinical 100 kill during the opening session.
Wright, who averaged 97 and fired in seven 180s, stretched his lead to 8-2 before Razma hit back with consecutive 14-darters, but a sublime 157 checkout in the penultimate leg catapulted him to a resounding victory.
"The crowd were fantastic, and it's great to be back at the Winter Gardens," said Wright, who now plays Krzysztof Ratajski for a place in the quarter-finals.
"There are loads more 180s to come, maybe nine-darters as well. I believe I will win it again.
"Krzysztof is a fantastic player, but it doesn’t matter what player turns up, they’ve got to be consistent from the first leg until the last, and there’s not many players in this tournament that can do that."
It was Rodriguez who produced arguably the performance of the night, averaging 99 to complete a 10-7 success against Clayton, who becomes the first seed to exit this year's tournament.
Rodriguez trailed 3-2 at the first interval despite averaging in three figures, but the Austrian was unfazed, reeling off three consecutive legs to seize the initiative.
Clayton stopped the rot with a superb 130 finish in leg nine, but that was usurped by a stunning 156 combination from
Read more on rte.ie
rte.ie
