PDC World Championship: Michael van Gerwen reaches round three
- Published
Van Gerwen has not won a televised ranking title in 2021
Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen recovered from losing the first set to reach round three of the PDC World Championship by beating Chas Barstow.
The Dutchman struggled with his doubles in the opening set as Barstow shone.
But Van Gerwen showed his class after that, winning six legs in a row on his way to a 3-1 victory.
Earlier, Darius Labanauskas hit the second nine-dart finish in 24 hours at Alexandra Palace but it was not enough to beat Mike de Decker in round one.
William Borland had hit a nine-darter in the deciding leg of his first round match against Bradley Brooks on Friday.
Labanauskas followed up his opening 177, with a maximum 180 before checking out with a treble 20, treble 17, double 18 combination to seal the first set.
However, that was as good as it got for the Lithuanian, who lost 3-1.
De Decker, from Belgium, had come into the tournament as a replacement for South Africa's Charles Losper, who was unable to travel to the UK because of visa issues.
The 27th seed Ian White from England set up a third-round clash with former champion Gary Anderson after a 3-1 win over Chris Landman.