Van Gerwen enjoys comfortable opening victory
Michael van Gerwen enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 victory over English debutant James Hurrell in his opening match of the PDC World Darts Championship.
The three-time world champion has had a tough year by his standards, having fallen behind Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, so a relatively stress-free opening match at Alexandra Palace was just what was needed.
Hurrell, 40, offered some resistance early on when taking the opening leg of the match, but he would win just two more as Van Gerwen proved far too strong.
The third-seeded Dutchman averaged 94.85, took out two three-figure checkouts and hit 50% of his doubles - with six of his nine misses coming in one scrappy leg.
Van Gerwen, 35, will now face either Brendan Dolan or Lok Yin Lee in the third round.
"I think I played OK," Van Gerwen told Sky Sports after his match. "Of course, I was a bit nervous. Like everyone knows it's been a tough year for me.
"Overall, it was a good performance. I was confident. I won the game, that's the main thing."
Also on Friday night, Germany's Florian Hempel showed why he loves playing on the Alexandra Palace stage with a thrilling 3-1 victory in a high-quality contest against Jeffrey de Zwaan.
Both men hit seven 180s in a match played at a fast and furious pace, but 34-year-old Hempel's superior doubles gave him a fourth straight first-round victory in the competition.
Hempel moves on to a tie with 26th seed Daryl Gurney but it was a damaging loss for De Zwaan, 28, who came through a late qualifier in November and needed a good run here to keep his PDC tour card for next season.
Mickey Mansell earned a third-round date with world number seven Jonny Clayton after a scrappy 3-1 win over Japan's Tomoya Goto, while Dylan Slevin came through an all-Irish tie against William O'Connor to progress to a second-round meeting with Dimitri van den Bergh.
Bunting sees off Gotthardt to advance
In the afternoon session, Stephen Bunting came from behind to beat Kai Gotthardt 3-1 and book his place in the third round.
Englishman Bunting, ranked eighth in the world, dropped the first set and almost went 2-0 down in the match before staging an impressive recovery.
Tournament debutant Gotthardt missed three darts at double eight to win the second set, allowing Bunting to take out double 10 to level the match before powering away to victory by winning the third and fourth sets without losing a leg.
Victory for "The Bullet" sets up a last 32 meeting with the winner of Dirk van Duijvenbode's meeting with Madars Razma after Christmas.
Should Bunting progress further, he would face world number one and defending world champion Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals on New Year's Day.
Elsewhere in Friday afternoon's session, the Dutch duo of Alexander Merkx and Wessel Nijman advanced to the second round with wins over Stephen Burton and Cameron Carolissen respectively.
England's Ian White was handed a walkover victory against Sandro Eric Sosing of the Philippines.
Sosing withdrew from the competition on medical grounds and was taken to hospital following chest pains.
Friday afternoon's results
First round
Stephen Burton 0-3 Alexander Merkx
Wessel Nijman 3-2 Cameron Carolissen
Ian White w/o Sandro Eric Sosing (Sosing withdrew on medical grounds)
Second round
Stephen Bunting 3-1 Kai Gotthardt
Friday evening's fixtures
First round
Mickey Mansell 3-1 Tomoya Goto
Florian Hempel 3-1 Jeffrey de Zwaan
William O'Connor 1-3 Dylan Slevin
Second round
Michael van Gerwen 3-0 James Hurrell
Saturday's schedule
All times GMT
Afternoon Session (12:30)
First round
Karel Sedlacek v Rhys Griffin
Richard Veenstra v Alexis Toylo
Second round
Brendan Dolan v Lok Yin Lee
Chris Dobey v Alexander Merkx
Evening Session (19:00)
Second round
Danny Noppert v Ryan Joyce
Raymond van Barneveld v Nick Kenny
Luke Littler v Ryan Meikle
Damon Heta v Connor Scutt
