World Darts Championship: Day 9 Afternoon – Dominant darts, Debutants, and Dance moves open the final day of round one - 180UK.com
Darts News PDC World Championships Stan Ashcroft

World Darts Championship: Day 9 Afternoon – Dominant darts, Debutants, and Dance moves open the final day of round one

21 December 2025
Charlie Elliott

By Stan Ashcroft

The final day of the PDC World Darts Championship round one began with Thursday’s afternoon session.

MATCH 1: Kevin Doets vs Matthew Dennant

 ‘Hawkeye’ vs ‘the Scholar’ as Kevin Doets entered his third World Championship, whereas Matthew Dennant made his debut. A lot of pressure was on Dennant to perform as his Tour Card was at risk of expiry if he lost.

The Englishman is known for his consistency and reliable darts but Kevin Doets is an effortless player, capable of the spectacular and defeated Michael Smith last year’s second round.

‘Hawkeye’ was on target from the very start and opened the match with a 152 checkout. Dennant just about held his throw, as Doets missed bullseye and two following opportunities to close the first set. Five missed set darts from the Dutchman allowed Dennant to draw first blood.

Douets returned after the break with a maximum score to put pressure on Dennant and broke his opponent’s throw with a 14-dart leg. Dennant missed the bull for a 164 checkout, to break straight back as Doets was there to clean up the second leg. The Dutchman comfortably held this throw with another 14-dart leg and won set two.

‘The Scholar’ broke back with the opening leg in the third set. Doets had a dart to claim the second leg, but Dennant stayed strong took out double 16 to put him in the driving seat.

But two darts were missed by Dennant, which would have wrapped up the set, as Doets broke back in leg four and continued to hold throw, to win the set, and completely turn the game around.

The scoring decreased following those two impressive opening sets. Fortunately for Dennant, it was his throw in the fourth set to keep him in the tie. Neither player gave up a leg against their throw which took them to the final leg. A schoolboy error from ‘the scholar’ as he missed three darts to take the game to the last leg. But ‘Hawkeye’ had his sights set on the second round and ceased the opportunity with a D16.

Kenyan David Munyua awaits the Dutchman in round two.

Result: Kevin Doets 3 v 1 Matthew Dennant

MATCH 2: Ryan Meikle v Jesus Salate

After his breathtaking performance pushing Luke Littler all the way in last year’s competition, Ryan Meikle hoped to go one round better.

Argentina’s first ever World Championship entrant, Jesus Salate, was his opening opponent this year. Salate played for his country in the World Cup of Darts and looked to jump on yesterday’s trend of debutants causing an upset.

The proceedings began with Meikle checking out a 130, issuing a statement of intent. With three back-to-back legs won with 15-darts, ‘The Barber’ ticked off set one with a tonne average.

Jesus Salate had the darts for leg two but Meikle broke throw straight away with a 110. The debutant didn’t get any chances at the double until the sixth leg, but he failed to capitalise on Meikle’s mistake and missed two attempts. The Englishman cruised to a 2-0 set lead with another whitewash.

‘The Barber’ held the darts going into a potentially winning set as the first leg was interrupted by former England and Arsenal footballer, Ray Parlour necking a pint, to the delight of the Ally Pally crowd. Salate surprisingly broke Meikle’s throw to go ahead in set three, but couldn’t follow it up with a hold of throw.

He missed two darts to go two legs up and failed to win any more thereafter. Meikle completed his victory as Salate failed to checkout 8 on his final visit.

Result: Ryan Meikle 3 v 0 Jesus Salate

MATCH 3: Mickey Mansell v Leonard Gates

As far as walk-ons go, Leonard Gates’ performances are right up there with the best. The American pulled out his best moves, wearing what looked like orange, mirrored ski goggles. Very impressive earning his nickname as the ‘Soulger’.

His opposite number, Mickey Mansell was a little more reserved but still in high spirits to warm up the crowd as last year’s grand slam of darts semi-finalist .

The Northern Irishman threw first but it became quickly apparent who the Ally Pally faithful were backing as Gates had the opportunity to checkout a 159. He failed to hit the bull but cleaned up the 25 straight away as chants of ‘USA! USA! USA!’ filled the Palace.

The American continued to win leg two, followed by Mansell winning leg three, as the pair held throw. It was Mansell’s turn to break as the players matched each other’s scoring to 161 which Mansell took out first after his third visit.

The deciding leg was in Mansell’s favour but Gates was more ruthless with his doubles and won the first set against the throw. The crowd’s support earnt them a little shimmy from Gates as he exited the stage.

‘The cyclone’ took the lead against the throw as Gates stuttered to checkout 25. It was followed up with a Shanghai checkout with 15-darts. Gates failed to checkout a 108 to hold throw and opened the door for Mansell to hit tops to equal the match.

It took ten legs until the first 180 was hit, thanks to the Northern Irishman. The pace of the match slowed down as gates was the first to break his opponent’s throw, taking control of the set. With Mansell stuck on 176, Gates only needed two darts to win the set, and did so with D14.

Gates entered set four with the darts for the match and the first leg was unbelievably poor across the board. It took 33 darts for Mansell to break Gate’s throw, putting all their averages out of the window. The set four averages at this point were 49.7 and 51.79 respectively, demonstrating just how bad of a watch this leg was.

Mansell won the second leg, and quite amazingly, Gates won the third with only 12 darts but ‘the Cyclone’ held this throw to take the game to the fifth, and deciding set.

Out of nowhere Gates found a 177 to craft the chance to break Mansell in the opening leg. Gates took the lead on his fourth attempt at double as Mansell was stuck on a bogey number. The American won the second leg and set himself up in the third to leave D16 for the match, against the throw.

Three missed matched darts from the American gave Mansell a chance to take the leg but Gates got the job done on the second time of asking.

Result: Mickey Mansell 1 v 3 Leonard Gates

MATCH 4: Josh Rock v Gemma Hayter

Debutant Hayter took an eight-year break from darts and only returned to the fold 18 months ago, after she was persuaded to return by her friend, Luke Humphries.

The 32-year-old for the tournament through the PDC Women’s Series Qualifier back in October and has been given the very difficult of task of playing world number 11, Josh Rock on her Ally Pally debut.

Josh Rock has reached two major PDC semi-finals and quarter-finals, and also won the Darts World Cup with Northern Ireland in 2025.

As the biggest match favourite of round one, Josh Rock immediately took command of the game and broke the throw of Hayter. Hayter had the chance to break back immediately with three darts at tops, after seven visits to the board.

Rock was able to get away with one, and proceeded to win the leg. Rock stormed ahead as Hayter had the throw in the third, but he missed more doubles to hand the debutant her first leg. The darts were with the Northern Irishman in the final leg as he calmly wrapped up the set. 85.37

‘Rocky’s’ fast paced darts returned in set two. He took no time at all to put three legs on the board and win the second set. He elevated his game from an average of 85.37 in set one, up to 101 in set two.

Although, Hayter had no opportunities to even lightly scratch Rock’s armour in the second set, she was able to dent it from here on out. She was able to hold her throw to go 2-1 up as Rock’s accuracy on doubles started to dry up. But in the fourth leg, he also endured a drought of tonne plus visits. Hayter threw an excellent  leg and won the set.

It was more of the same from Hayter in the next leg as she continued to hold her own and push Rock to the final leg. Without the darts she did more than hold her own and was only  one leg from levelling the match. Rock threw first for the final leg and won the match with an 81 checkout.

Hayter proved the doubters wrong and almost pushed Rock all the way after her crucial revival in the third set. Rock looked shaky at times but we saw glimpses of why he’s tipped by many to win the tournament. Don’t be surprised if we see a lot more of Gemma Hayter in 2026 and beyond. A debut performance to be proud of.

Result: Josh Rock 3 v 1 Gemma Hayter

AS IT HAPPENS: 2025/26 PDC WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS

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