World Darts Championship: Day 6 Evening – 'Ice-Man' Gerwyn Price looking back to his best - 180UK.com
Darts News PDC World Championships Stan Ashcroft

World Darts Championship: Day 6 Evening – ‘Ice-Man’ Gerwyn Price looking back to his best

17 December 2025
Tom Sansom

By Stan Ashcroft

2021 World Champion Gerwyn Price headlined the PDC World Darts Championship day six evening session at Alexandra Palace. The four matches contained a mixture of upsets and dominance across the night.

MATCH 1: Ricardo Pietreczko v Jose de Sousa

 

Jose De Sousa is nicknamed ‘the special one’ with a grand slam title to his name, the Portuguese has had a few lengthy World Championship campaigns over the years. Ricardo ‘Pikachu’ Pietreczko went into the fixture as favourite, ranked 40 places higher than his round one rival.

De Sousa broke Pietreczko’s throw straight away and took the first two legs of the opening set. ‘Pikachu’  fought back to win three consecutive legs to win the first set.

Pietreczko also won the second set through an incredible final break of throw with an 11-darter. The trend continued as Pietreczko had the darts to win the game however, it was the Special One’s turn to break throw on the last leg as he pulled out an impressive 13-dart leg to make it 2-1 in sets.

You would never guess what happened in the fourth set. That’s right! It was De Sousa’s turn to throw first but after holding in the opening leg, De Sousa had one treble-less visit in the third which the German pounced on, and won the leg, again with 13 darts. One more leg saw Pietreczko defeat the Portuguese in the Special One’s first appearance since 2023.

Pikachu made it to the second round for the third consecutive year, and will face either Fallon Sherrock or Dave Chisnall in round two.

Result: Ricardo Pietreczko 3 v 1 Jose de Sousa

MATCH 2: Danny Noppert v Jurjen van der Velde

Danny Noppert will have come in to his opening game with high hopes as he played debutant Jurjen van der Velde. ‘The Milky Bar Kid’ (a truely excellent nickname for van der Velde) came into his game prepared, armed with wasp spray. However, after some extravagant use of the spray, he seemed emotional as the spray may have got into his eyes after he entered the Ally Pally stage for the first time!

Noppert opened the proceedings in the first set. VdV checked out a 120 in the opening leg, breaking the throw of the world number six. However, ‘the freeze’ came back with an instant reply, levelling the score by checking out 103. Both players held their throws with plenty of high scores in the mix, but Noppert was the one who came out on top.

Van der Velde took the lead in the second set with his second tonne plus checkout (109). The debutant continued to stun Noppert whilst the Ally Pally wasp made yet another cameo, as it appeared that VdV’s wasp spray failed him. The luck of the wasp saw Van der Velde deservedly take the second set to level the scores.

Nothing split the two dutchmen in set three, as Noppert missed four darts to win the set in the fourth leg. With young Van De Velde breathing down Noppert’s neck, the 2022 UK Open Champion kept his cool and produced a 180, followed by an 88 finish on the bull.

Noppert was one set away from winning the match as Van der Velde held the darts, but the more experienced player took his game to the next level. A 135 finish presented itself to Noppert in the first leg, to which he achieved with flying colours. With seven 180’s and an average of 117 in the last set, the freeze sailed into round two.

Result: Danny Noppert 3 v 1 Jurjen van der Velde

MATCH 3: Gerwyn Price v Adam Gawlas

The ‘Ice Man’ Gerwen Price entered the stage serenaded by boos, accompanied by Gerry Cinnamon’s live version of ‘Discoland’. His opponent for the evening was Czechia international, Adam Gawlas, for a second ever head-to-head against the Welshman, where Price came out on top in 2023.

The 2021 World Champion picked up a 180 in his first two legs winning them with a combined total of 25 darts. Price comfortably won the third, to claim the set with a 100 average.

Gawlas had the throw for the second set as Price flew out the blocks with six perfect darts. However, he failed to capitalise on them with numerous missed doubles as Gawlas held the leg. The Czech took advantage of Gezzy’s poor doubles again in the second leg, but Price bounced back with three consecutive legs to win set two with a 120 shanghai checkout.

The dominance from Price continued as he ticked off the remaining legs and repeated the 120 checkout to win the match.

A routine win through an impressive performance, saw Price comfortably through as he only allowed his opponent with 3 darts at doubles. Wesley Plaisier will play Price in round two on Sunday.

Result: Gerwyn Price 3 v 0 Adam Gawlas

MATCH 4: Niko Springer v Joe Comito

The final game of day 6, Australian Niko Comito took on German Niko Springer in his second ever World Championships after he made his debut last year.

It was a slow opening leg as it took ‘Smoking Joe’ 22 darts to get off the mark but the trebles quickly filled up in the second, as Springer came into the game. Both players held their throws as Comito won the first set in standard fashion.

It was a similar story in the second set, with no real standout moments as Niko Springer held his throw, failing to break his opponent to win the set 3-2. Comito was the one to first break the opponent’s throw, winning straight legs in set three by checking out a mighty 155 in the last.

Springer looked visibly frustrated as he started leg four. Comito missed the bull for a big fish finish but was able to checkout on his next visit, and broke Springer’s darts to throw for the win. The Australian went onto play his worst leg of the match to give Springer a second chance. But the German blew it, missing 3 visits for the double as Comito won it on his fourth match dart.

A big upset for this year’s World Championships as Springer was 1/7 to win before the game. ‘Smoking Joe’  will play either Josh Rock or Gemma Hayter in the next round.

Result: Niko Springer 1 v 3 Joe Comito

AS IT HAPPENS: 2025/26 PDC WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS

EDITORS PICKS