ROWBY-JOHN RODRIGUEZ won his first game on the Alexandra Palace stage at the fourth attempt with his 3-1 victory over Ricky Evans in the first round of the 2018/19 William Hill World Darts Championship.
A high-quality opening set went the way of Rodriguez after a deciding leg, before two 15-darters from Evans saw him win the second set 3-1 for a level game.
Evans broke throw to take the opening leg of set three with a 13-darter but Rodriguez hit back with three successive legs to take a 2-1 lead.
A stunning 124 checkout from Evans to go 2-1 up in set four was followed by an extraordinary celebration, but Rodriguez took the final two legs for the win.
Match Stats
Averages:
Evans - 90.74
Rodriguez - 89.3
180s:
Evans - 3
Rodriguez - 4
Highest Finish:
Evans - 124
Rodriguez - 90
100+ Checkouts:
Evans - 2
Rodriguez - 0
Finishing:
Evans - 8/21
Rodriguez - 10/25
