Stevenson marches into round two with accomplished performance over Dekker

SIMON Stevenson booked his place in round two of the Ladbrokes World Series of Darts with an accomplished performance against Jan Dekker at the Braehead Arena, Glasgow, tonight.

The pair had previously met only once when the Dutchman won 6-3 when contesting Players Championship 5 in April 2016 but the Mirrorman avenged that defeat by the same scoreline and will now meet James Wade tomorrow evening.

Stevenson opened up with a win in 16, only for Dekker to level in 17, before the Plymothian edged in front once again with a 17-darter of his own.

Yet another win in 17 gave Stevenson a 3-1 advantage and that soon became 4-1 when, after hitting his only maximum of the match, he won in 13.

JUBILANT: A jubilant Simon Stevenson booked his place in round two tomorrow evening with a 6-3 victory over Dutchman Jan Dekker.

Stevenson kept up the momentum in the next and finished a 15-darter with an outshot of 117 to put him just one away from victory.

Dekker pulled one back when he took out a finish of 114 for a win in 15 and then won the next in 17 to move within two legs of Stevenson.

But with the darts, Stevenson finished the job with victory in 17 to win his first televised match at the fifth time of asking.

Plymouth’s leading marksman finished with a 90.21 average and can now start preparing for a shot at Wade tomorrow when televised coverage by ITV4 will again commence at 7.00pm.