PDC World Darts Championship Wide Open Going into Second Round

Round one of the PDC World Darts Championship is done and dusted, but we are still no closer to determining who the likely victor is. With so many impressive names in the field, we have arguably the closest competition we have had in many years.

Among those who have progressed there were a handful of impressive first-round performances, mixed in with those who did enough and no more to advance.

Undoubtedly the most exciting section of the bracket is that headed by No. 3 seed Adrian Lewis. Lewis was in destructive form in his first-round match, and he was one of the two most impressive performers so far along with Raymond van Barneveld.

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The irony of that is only one of those two will feature in the quarter-finals, as they are on a crash-course for each other in the third round. It will be a titanic struggle so early in the tournament between two former world champions.

Lewis' scoring ability is as good as anyone in the world, while Van Barneveld brings coolness and accuracy. His two checkouts of 167 and 170 in the first round made him perhaps the most impressive finisher on show.

It does not stop there, though. James Wade and Stephen Bunting meet each other in their next matchup and both find themselves in the same quarter of the draw as Lewis.

Wade was accurate and for the most part clinical in his first match, while last year's Lakeside world champion Bunting showed his class at times to survive a valiant effort from Robert Marijanovic.

Those are four players who are all capable of winning the whole thing. 

Yet the other sections do have their contenders too.

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Phil Taylor is the firm favourite in his section with the other two top-10 seeds, Simon Whitlock and Mervyn King, both having been sent packing in their first matches. Taylor has rediscovered his form after a dismal showing last year and has every chance to add to his 16 world titles.

Defending champion and No. 1 seed Michael van Gerwen received a scare in his first-round contest but do not write him off based on that. At times he was his clinical self but at others did look nervy. This is not uncommon in the first round of the World Championship.

When he is on his game he is as good as anyone and will be there or thereabouts come the end.

He will be challenged in his section of the bracket by Dave Chisnall, Robert Thornton and Terry Jenkins. All are top players and Thornton in particular had a good showing in his first match, while Chisnall's win was less convincing because of a series of darts falling off the board.

All three could be outside chances. More likely, though, they will act as spoiler players for the top contenders and act as a very tough matchup for Van Gerwen in his bid to defend his title.

The final section of the draw, headed by No. 4 seed Gary Anderson, is nearly as unpredictable as the one headed by Lewis, although perhaps not boasting the same championship contenders. Anderson himself entered the tournament in a rich vein of form, although he has lacked consistency and made hard work of his first-round win.

Last year's finalist, Peter Wright, is in that section, too, and he may very well be the man to go through. Wright's first-round performance was only topped by Lewis and Van Barneveld, averaging 98.90 and finishing well.

Andy Hamilton, Jelle Klaasen and Kevin Painter are all capable of beating either of those two as well but, again, may act more as spoiler players than genuine contenders.

To predict a winner at this stage is difficult, which will make the coming weeks that much more interesting.

Taylor, van Gerwen, Wade, Lewis, van Barneveld, Bunting, Wright and Anderson all have legitimate shots, with Chisnall and Thornton long-shots for the title, too.

Perhaps after the next round we will have more of an idea. After all, when it comes to the world championships, anything can happen on the day.