So, we had to wait until the last game of the day to see Leonard Gates – and what a way to end the day!

‘Soulger’ faced England’s John Scott, and started the better of the two, posting a couple of 16-darters to go 2-0 up. Scott then held with a 16 of his own, and levelled with a brillant 12. Good timing, as the American was sat waiting on 32. No biggie, as Gates had the throw in the decider – and used it well to go a set up.

Scott took the first leg of Set 2 with a nice 111 checkout. If we thought the Englishman would tie it up, we were wrong. Without really kicking into gear, Leonard won the next three to move ahead 2-0.

While Gates was possibly the stronger of the pair at this point, it really wasn’t one-way traffic. This was clear as Scott won the first leg of the third set in just 15 darts – and it should have been 13. A timely checkout from 90 made it all square before Scott regained the lead. Were we heading for a fourth set?

Nope. This was when Gates decided to kick it up a notch.

Nine darts later (140, 180, 165), the three-time US #1 was down to 16. He missed the first dart, but finished it second dart for an 11, the quickest leg so far. If you think that was good, the first seven darts of the decider were all T20’s! With a perfect game on the cards, the eighth dart missed the 57. A last dart 15 left 47, and two darts – and another 11 – later, it was all over.

Not quite as good as his first round, but when you hit 180’s in two legs, and stick in back-to-back 11-darters, it can’t be all bad!

Other winners today included reigning men’s champ Neil Duff, who fought off the efforts of Moreno Blom, and the lovely Deta Hedman, who continues her quest for a first World Championship.

7.00pm tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, Danny Lauby makes his first appearance of the week, against Dutchman Jarno Bottenberg. Dont forget, you can watch all the action live on the WDF’s Yoube channel.

Full details from DartConnect

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