Paul Nicholson was given a big scare in the opening round of the Ladbrokes World Championship!
But the Unicorn man finally saw off the determined challenge of Austrian Mensur Suljovic, to win a dramatic match by 3 sets to 1.
“Boy, that was tough!” he declared
“I knew it would be hard and I knew he would put me under pressure, but I came out the other side and believe me when I say, that was a big big win!”
There has been a lot of talk about Nicholson for the 2012 Premier League, but he knows that he has to produce the goods on the oche as well if he wants that spot…..and that certainly put added pressure on.
But Nicholson can now go home, enjoy his Christmas and come back on December 27 to take on Alan Tabern.
‘The Asset’ won the opening set with the help of a maximum and a 110 finish, but he was hit by an Austrian whirlwind in set two, as Suljovic averaged 99 with an 11 darter, a 12 dart leg, two 180s and a 121 finish to clinch the set!
Nicholson stormed back to win the third set and was the first to admit he rode his luck in what turned out to be a nail-biting fourth set.
A brilliant 88 two-dart check-out gave the Unicorn ace the opening leg but despite hitting a third maximum, he watched Suljovic take out 108 when he was sat on 40!
The Austrian then edged ahead, before Nicholson broke the throw and we went to a deciding leg….and when Suljovic started with a fourth 180, it looked like we were heading for a final set.
But he missed a dart at ‘tops’ and three more at D10 and Nicholson stepped in after hitting a fourth 180 of his own…and he nailed one of the most important D10s of his career to win the day!
There will be a lot of relief in the Nicholson camp, that’s for sure but he has conjured up the win and that is all that matters!
In Saturday’s other action, there was a shock defeat for Ronnie Baxter….the world no.14 lost in a deciding set to Steve Farmer.
Former World Champion Steve Beaton won through to round two in controversial circumstances….opponent Magnus Caris was in cruise control until he missed three darts to win the match 3-0.
The crowd got on his back, the normally cool Swedish player reacted and suffered, because Beaton came back to claim an unlikely win in a final set tie-break.
Veteran Denis Ovens was forced to retire injured from his match against Kevin Munch…..Ovens was suffering from chronic back pain and after losing the first set, he couldn’t play on, handing victory to the young German.
Vincent van der Voort piled in 11x180s in beating Mark Hylton in a final set.
Jelle Klaasen produced his best TV display for two years to take out Peter Wright….the former Lakeside World Champion had a 60% check-out success rate.
Alan Tabern was given a mighty scare by Christian Perez, as the Philippines champion came from two sets down….Perez actually missed two darts to take the match to a fifth set, only for Tabern to take out 122 on the bull to pinch the win.
Scot Robert Thornton, who has struggled with illness for a lot of this year, will be delighted to beat Ian White and he has set up a 2nd Round clash with current World Champion Adrian Lewis.
Saturday 1st Round results:
Peter Wright 1-3 Jelle Klaasen
Ronnie Baxter 2-3 Steve Farmer
Robert Thornton 3-1 Ian White
Alan Tabern 3-1 Christian Perez
Steve Beaton 3-2 Magnus Caris
Vincent van der Voort 3-2 Mark Hylton
Paul Nicholson 3-1 Mensur Suljovic
Denis Ovens 0-1 Kevin Munch (Ovens retired)
Sunday 1st Round schedule (7pm):
Brendan Dolan v Kim Huybrechts
Mark Dudbridge v Dave Chisnall
Raymond van Barneveld v James Richardson
Mark Walsh v Connie Finnan/Warren French
By STUART PYKE at the Ladbrokes World Championship
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC