• BDO World Championship

Bunting stutters through as Wolfie crashes out

ESPN staff
January 6, 2013

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Top seed Stephen Bunting edged through to the second round against qualifier James Wilson but second seed Martin Adams crashed out on day two of the BDO World Championship.

Teenager Jimmy Hendriks beat "Wolfie" Adams 3-2 in an encounter of high tension and in two England-Scotland clashes, Englishmen Steve Douglas and Scott Mitchell came through victorious.

Bunting was first on stage at the Lakeside in Surrey and struggled early on against Wilson, aka Jammie Dodger.

Trailing by two sets to one, he had to break Wilson's throw to stay in the championship and did so with a cool 70 checkout to tie the match at 2-2, setting up a nervy decider.

With the pressure on, the 27-year-old showed the composure that earned him No. 1 status for the tournament to win the final set 3-0.

Wilson looked good for an upset at 2-1 up but fluffed all his chances in the final set allowing a stuttering Bunting to win on a double one.

Steve Douglas won his nervy first round match with Gary Stone less than a month after suffering a heart attack. In the most keenly contested encounter of the championship so far, the Englishman, and thirteenth seed, triumphed 3-1 over his Scottish opponent.

Despite the scoreline not indicating a classic, every leg was hard-fought with repeated failures to checkout from both players making for an unpredictable match. But Douglas put all the pieces of his game together for the final set, marrying high scores with first-time checkouts, and he will meet Tony O'Shea in the next round.

Dutch teenager Jimmy Hendriks put three-time BDO world champion Martin Adams to the sword through his superior ability at hitting doubles. The metronomic arm of Hendriks, 18, put second-seed Adams under serious pressure right from the start and the Englishman was never able to recover his composure, eventually going down 3-2.

Jimmy Hendriks scored the victory of his career over Martin "Wolfie" Adams © PA Photos
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At 2-1 down, Adams tried to out-point his opponent to give himself room for error when checking out, and although he did the first part brilliantly, he repeatedly choked on the latter. With the fearlessness of youth, Hendriks proved much better at closing out his chances and won the final set 3-0.

Wesley Harms survived Rune David's mind games to seal his place in the second round. Debutant David appeared to have got inside his opponent's head as he took the opening set in flamboyant fashion, but the No. 8 seed bounced back to claim a 3-1 victory.

David was guilty of showboating - raising his hand in celebration before failing to land 180 - before missing a 40 checkout in a dramatic opening leg. The Norwegian nailed double 18 for the opening set, but a subdued Harms hit back to level before winning five legs in a row to seal victory.

The second Anglo-Scottish clash of the night went the way of Englishman Scott Mitchell as he beat Mark Barilli 3-2 to reach the second round for the first time in his career.

Mitchell won the first five legs of the tie and looked in complete control but Barilli came good with a coolly-taken checkout combo of 60, 108 and 58 to win the second set. Barilli then registered the first 180 of the match and Mitchell, aka Scotty Dog, was left scratching his head as he also lost the third set.

Mitchell levelled the match by winning the fourth but only after missing repeated attempts to checkout on double 16 in his third leg. Confidence flowed back into his game and he nailed double tops to go a leg up in the fifth, from where he never looked back and won the set 3-0.

Meanwhile Jan Dekker set up a second-round clash with Gary Thompson after triumphing in a thrilling encounter against fellow Dutchman Jeffrey de Graaf 3-2.

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