Van der Voort finally wins at darts' World Matchplay and takes aim at Blackpool

Held annually at the iconic Blackpool venue since 1994, the Professional Darts Corporation's summer showpiece is taking place at Milton Keynes this week after coronavirus forced it behind closed doors.

Van de Voort overcame Dave Chisnall 10-6, having trailed 5-4, and said: "My mindset was good today and I'm happy with my game. I haven't felt this good for 10 to 15 years."

And he clearly felt the change of location was a factor, saying: “Every venue is better than the Winter Gardens. It’s not only that venue - I think they should tear the whole place down and build it up again."

One player whose World Matchplay fortunes were definitely not improved by the change of venue is ​Gerwyn Price.

The world number three suffered his fourth successive first-round defeat, losing 10-7 to Danny Noppert.

The rising Dutch talent, who made his Winter Gardens debut last year, held his nerve after Price had recovered from 9-5 to win the next two legs.

Noppert, landed five 180s, said: "It is a big win. I'm a really happy man.

"It was a little bit strange without a crowd, but I'm always happy to play on stage and I can look forward to the next match."

That will be against 2013 runner-up Adrian Lewis, who edged out Steve Beaton 11-9.

Lewis missed just eight doubles in the whole of a match but Beaton, a veteran of 21 World Matchplays, took the match to 9-9. After controlling the tie-break, Lewis said: "Every time I did my job and got ahead of I let Steve off the hook but he took his chances.

"I'm playing well enough. I'm showing glimpses but to win this tournament I know I've got to have my head on the whole way through."

Joe Cullen avenged last year's 10-0 defeat to Ian White with a 13-12 victory in the first match in this championship to go to sudden death.

White fought back from 3-0 down to lead 8-4 only for the Yorkshireman to reel off five successive legs and go back in front. At 12-12, Cullen hit the winning double at the sixth attempt.

"I felt great on the practice board and I genuinely thought I was going to blow Ian away, but that didn't happen when I got up there," Cullen admitted.

Two-time semi-finalist Daryl Gurney is on his way again after a 10-5 victory over Ricky Evans.

Gurney sealed victory with a hot-streak of five consecutive legs after the opening 10 were shared and said: "There's something about this event - I always hang in there and give myself an opportunity."

And Gurney won't be short of support around Blackpool when he next takes to the oche ... his second-round opponent is van der Voort!

The match between Nathan Aspinall and two-time World Youth Champion Dimitri Van den Bergh concludes the first round on Tuesday evening and will be followed by the first four second-round matches.

These include world number one Michael van Gerwen taking on Simon Whitlock and a battle between two former winners, Gary Anderson and James Wade.