James Wade fell in the second round as Matt Campbell earned a 3-2 victory; The match went to a deciding set; The World Darts Championship runs until the final on January 3, 2024
17:49, UK, Tuesday 19 December 2023
James Wade crashed out of the second round of the World Darts Championship after losing 3-2 to Canadian Matt Campbell.
For the second year running, the world number 13 exited the tournament in the second round.
Wade was the first ranked player to drop out of this year’s tournament.
Matt Campbell pulled off a shocker by knocking out James Wade in the second round of the World Championship.
The first set was a tight contest between the two, with Wade taking the set after throwing darts.
The second continued in similar fashion until Campbell pounced on a Wade error, broke the throw and leveled the tie with a 14-dart-leg to take a 2-1 lead in the second set.
A sensational 132 on his way to a 2-1 lead, but it was Campbell who hit a purple patch throughout the fourth set, taking three consecutive legs to take the match. A determinant.
Matt Campbell reflects on his 'enormous’ win over James Wade in the second round of the world championships and says he’s still flying to Canada this week.
After taking the first two legs of the final set, Campbell missed his first chance to clinch victory as he once again broke Wade’s serve, and Wade leveled the set at 2-2.
However, the Canadian held on to his sacrifice, as Wade rattled off his 56 checkout to seal the victory for Campbell in the T18.
Campbell has been in good form since October, but he believes this is the biggest win of his career so far.
„I’m happy to win against a quality player like James… it’s huge.” Campbell said Sky Sports.
„After you get that first hit, you can relax a bit. Luckily I can throw darts calmly.”
In the afternoon’s first round match, Geoffrey de Graff Richie came back from two sets down to defeat Edhouse, who would have whitewashed a missed match dart in the third set 3-0.
De Graaf, who has yet to make it past the first round of any Darts World Championship (four BDO visits, two PDC), will next face 25th seed Jose de Sousa.
Elsewhere, an off-colour Keegan Brown lost 3-1 Boris KrcmarMeanwhile, Ian White made an unexpected exit for Japan Tomoya GotoHe was very impressed with his introduction to Alexandra Palace.
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