The PDC main round, the Enterprise’s premier online tournament in darts, continued Saturday night. On the 16th day of the competition, events unfolded really dramatically: before the last match, three contenders had a chance to advance, and in the end, Canadian Jeff Smith, who had great hair and nerves of steel, was happy .
| Smith played a great role tonight (Image: twitter.com/OfficialPDC) |
The sixteenth set began with a surprise, in the first match of the Englishman Martin Atkins, ranked 103 in the PDC world rankings, easily defeated compatriot Ricky Evans, who was considered the main contender of the evening and ranked 28, 5-2. Atkins’ success is mainly due to his better shooting: He has closed the net five times out of nine attempts, while Evans has only succeeded twice out of 14—while their averages were roughly equal: Atkins threw an average of 90.57 and Evans averaged 90.40.
In continuation, Canadian Jeff Smith (92) achieved a similar smooth victory over German Christian Ponce (80th), and closed his 5-1 win with a 10-arrow leg at the end – after the start 100, 171 and then 180 came from the Canadian, and at the end came out First with the bull.
Straight in Taurus!
Absolute scenes as Jeff Smith takes a 5-1 win over Christian Ponce with a 10-dart leg as he heads straight to the point of view to win it in style!
Watch all events for free – https://t.co/6KOZ9IEnDF pic.twitter.com/4m1Fg2izRO
– PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) May 2, 2020
In the third game, the two previous winners had a very close fight with each other, and after everyone made their start, Atkins won the ninth with a score of 5-4 – that is, with a 12-arrow leg.
In the losers’ game – his fourth in a row – Evans didn’t let the paper form flip for a second time and averaged 92.26, beating Ponci 5-3, whose average of 75.77 was the worst of the day until then. Point, and it was also decided that the German could not move forward.
In the fifth match, it was also decided to reveal the identity of the group winner in the last confrontation, after Ponce scored one by one with overwhelming confidence against Atkins, who had been flawless until then and topped the list, leading 4–0, and finally 5– winning by 2.
This only leads Atkins to advance if Evans wins 5-3 or 5-4, Evans needs 5-2 or more success to advance, while Smith wins the set by any margin.
Knowing the above, after the first four legs were brought in by the starting player, at 2-2, Evans took the last chance to take Smith’s match, but Smith immediately broke with a 121 exit, and turned the issue of progressing into a double match. : Atkins and Smith remained affected, among whom the Canadian could be happy to advance, after winning the final, 5-4, not by any means: He took the final blow with 147 eliminations.
Smith wins the set!
A massive 147 push-ups for Jeff Smith make the final win over Ricky Evans and that means Smith takes the set!
What a way to win it! pic.twitter.com/OlFSsUrFcT
– PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) May 2, 2020
Darts
PDC Home Tour
group 16
Ricky Evans (England) (90.4) –Martin Atkins (England) (90.57) 2-5
Christian Bansee (Germany) (85.29) –Jeff Smith (Canada) (94.8) 1-5
Martin Atkins (England) (89.53)– Jeff Smith (Canada) (91.4) 5-4
Ricky Evans (England) (92.26)Christian Pence (Germany) (75.77) 5-3
Christian Bansee (Germany) (88.69)Martin Atkins (England) (94.4) 5-2
Jeff Smith (Canadian) (85.85)Ricky Evans (England) (91.01) 5-4
| 1. Jeff Smith | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14-10 | +4 | 90.11 | 4 |
| 2. Martin Atkins | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12-11 | +1 | 91.31 | 4 |
| 3. Ricky Evans | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11-13 | -2 | 91.28 | 2 |
| 4. Christian Ponce | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9-12 | -3 | 82.79 | 2 |
| In the penultimate column, the daily rate of players is shown. | |||||||
Sunday program
Group 17
20.30 (Television: Sports 1)
John Henderson (Scotland) – Krzysztof Ksiuk (Poland)
Damon Heta (Australian) – Gary Blades (English)
Krzysztof Kciuk (Polish) – Gary Blades (English)
John Henderson (Scott) – Damon Heta (Australia)
Damon Heta (Australia) – Krzysztof Ksiuk (Poland)
Gary Blades (England) – John Henderson (Scotland)
Players who have advanced so far: Jimmy Lewis, Luke Woodhouse, Dave Chisnall, Geert Neintges, Nick Kenny, Ryan Searle, Jill Claassen, Johnny Clayton, Martin Claremaker, Nathan Aspinall, Alan Tabern, Max Hope, Karl Wilkinson, Chris Dobby, Darren Webster, Jeff Smith
