What a moment in the life of young Devon Petersen!
The biggest win of his career against Steve Brown at the World Championship…..and as if that wasn’t enough, he will now take on Gary Anderson in an all Unicorn 2nd Round match at the Alexandra Palace!
It was fairytale stuff for the South African, who effectively won £7,000 for a night’s work! He started the evening guaranteed £3,000 in the preliminary round and victory there ensured at least £6,000 and now he will win at least £10,000 – by far the biggest cheque of his darts career!
“It is an unbelievable feeling,” he said.
“I just never gave up and I am sure the experience of a year on the PDC tour has been a big help. I am living the dream and I am so excited by playing on this stage!”
“I can’t wait to play Gary. What a chance it will be for me and you just never know!”
He deserves all the praise….the Unicorn youngster had to win the last two legs of his prelim match against Portugal’s Jose de Sousa to earn the right for a crack at Brown!
In the preliminary round, he hit four 180s and against Brown, he banged in six more!
Petersen came from 2 sets to 1 down to claim victory in a deciding set tie-break!
It was another dramatic win in a tournament packed with action!
After taking the match to that deciding set, it looked to be all over when Brown went 2 legs in front, but Petersen levelled with a brave 80 check-out after Brown had missed one dart at bull for the match.
And the Unicorn star wasn’t to be denied….he ended up winning four consecutive legs and claimed his famous win on D9.
Hats off to Devon Petersen for a truly great and gutsy display….
And it also means a giant step as he chases down a place in the top 50 in the world.
Well, elsewhere on Wednesday night at the Alexandra Palace, the in-form Scott Rand demolished Andy Smith 3-0, winning nine straight legs, and he will now take on Colin Lloyd in the 2nd Round.
Aussie Simon Whitlock produced the highest average of the World Championship so far, despite making his comeback after a broken leg and ankle!
He averaged 105 in thrashing Dennis Smith, dropping only one leg in the match!
And three-times World Champion John Part set up a 2nd Round clash against Richie Burnett after an easy 3-0 victory over John Henderson.
Wednesday 1st Round results:
Andy Smith 0-3 Scott Rand
John Part 3-0 John Henderson
Simon Whitlock 3-0 Dennis Smith
Steve Brown 2-3 Devon Petersen
Thursday 2nd Round schedule (best of 7 sets):
Wayne Jones v Roland Scholten
Adrian Lewis v Robert Thornton
Wes Newton v Justin Pipe
By STUART PYKE at the Ladbrokes World Championship
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC