Michael van Gerwen admits opening win over James Hurrell ‘wasn’t spectacular’

Michael van Gerwen began his bid for a fourth World Championship title with a comfortable 3-0 victory against England’s James Hurrell.

Van Gerwen, Ally Pally champion in 2014, 2017 and 2019, has struggled for form of late and not won a major televised tournament this year.

But the Dutchman eased past Hurrell, who beat Jim Long on his World Championship debut on Tuesday, in winning each set 3-1.

“I think I played OK, of course like everyone knows it’s been a tough year for me,” Van Gerwen, the number three seed, told Sky Sports after his second-round victory.

“To stand up here and do the thing you want to do always takes a lot of energy.

“But overall I put in a good performance. My doubles were there, I was confident, and the most important thing is that I won the game.

“It wasn’t spectacular but I don’t really care because I won the game. It’s only the start of my campaign and there’s more to come.”

The 51-year-old left-hander seized early control and held on with his Japanese opponent failing to take win second, third and fourth sets on the bullseye.

Dylan Slevin won a gruelling all-Irish affair against William O’Connor 3-1 with both players somewhat short of their best form.

Florian Hempel beat Jeffrey de Zwaan 3-1 to maintain his 100 per cent win rate in the first round at Alexandra Palace.

The German made a blistering start to average 104.63 in the opening set and meets Northern Ireland’s Daryl Gurney next.

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was among the crowd in the afternoon session as Stephen Bunting overcame a huge second-round scare to beat Germany’s Kai Gotthardt 3-1.

Bunting, the reigning Masters champion, narrowly escaped falling 2-0 behind after Gotthardt missed three attempts at double eight and instead the eighth seed levelled the match at 1-1 before cruising to victory.

Dutch pair Alexander Merkx and Wessel Nijmen both progressed into round two, while Ian White was the beneficiary of Sandro Eric Sosing’s withdrawal after the Filipino felt unwell during practice.