PDC World Darts Championship 2018: Thursday Scores, Results and Updated Schedule

The 2018 PDC World Darts Championship got under way at London's Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening, and champion Michael van Gerwen launched a successful start to his title defence by moving into the second round.

He defeated Christian Kist 3-1 to set up a second-round meeting with James Wilson, the 32nd overall seed who ousted Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski from the running following a 3-1 victory in the best-of-five affair.

Also progressing to the second round of the tournament is Steve Beaton and Gerwyn Price after they defeated William O'Connor and Ted Evetts, respectively.

Beaton scored the first official win of this year's World Darts Championship after he cruised to a 3-1 victory over O'Connor, and Price rumbled to a dominant 3-0 triumph in the late fixture against 20-year-old starlet Evetts.

Read on for a roundup of Thursday's action from Alexandra Palace, as well as a look at Friday's schedule.

Thursday's Results

(25) Steve Beaton 3-1 William O'Connor

(32) James Wilson 3-1 Krzysztof Ratajski

(1) Michael van Gerwen 3-1 Christian Kist

(16) Gerwyn Price 3-0 Ted Evetts

Friday Schedule

Seigo Asada vs. Gordon Mathers (Preliminary), 7 p.m. GMT/2 p.m. ET

(21) Stephen Bunting vs. Dimitri Van den Bergh, 8 p.m. GMT/3 p.m. ET

(6) Phil Taylor vs. Chris Dobey, 9 p.m. GMT/4 p.m. ET

(20) Rob Cross vs. Seigo Asada/Gordon Mathers, 10 p.m. GMT/5 p.m. ET

Recap

It was Kist who had the unenviable honour of attempting to fell the giant Van Gerwen at the first hurdle of this year's championships, looking to down his Dutch compatriot and make the round of 32 for a second time in his career.

But the early signs showed that may be a futile effort, as "Mighty Mike" blasted off at light speed and finished with an impressive 141 checkout to go one set up, not to mention averaging just below 110, per PDC Darts:

Van Gerwen wavered slightly at two sets ahead, as Kist cut the deficit in half, but the favourite stormed back with ferocity in the fourth set, wrapping up a dominant 3-0 leg victory at the last to secure his second-round spot.

Beaton and O'Connor's clash was lacking in quality by comparison to that matchup, but "The Bronzed Adonis" was no less pleased to secure a 3-1 win of his own and advance in the competition, showing his appreciation in the aftermath:

The Coventry native is a 26-year veteran of the professional darts scene and has twice reached the last 16 of this tournament, although he'll need to improve upon his checkout percentage of 39.13 if he's to beat that in 2018.

The official PDC Darts website provided commentary from Beaton, who was gracious in victory:

"I know William can play well. But I sneaked the first set and I thought after I got the second set, he didn't get off the stage anything—he tried to get himself focused.

"I thought the last two sets we both played how we can play.

"He's just got to learn, I mean I'm still learning! I still get the butterflies and I'm tense and everything. I couldn't believe the ending there, we were both banging them in and I just came out on top."

Ratajski will have felt regret he's no longer in the competition, considering his checkout percentage of 57.14 was a little less than 10 percentage points superior to that of Wilson.

However, darts analyst Christopher Kempf illustrated how those fine margins decide results:

The Pole also managed to register a ton-plus checkout while Wilson did not, but the consistency of the latter ultimately trumped any flash-in-the-pan brilliance Ratajski managed to muster.

The final match of the evening saw Price ease youngster Evetts to one side, throwing 180 with his first attempt as "The Iceman" started off as planned.

Evetts deserved credit for his display, considering the scoreline perhaps flattered Price, but his failure to string together bigger scores with any kind of consistency meant the Welsh favourite ended up waltzing away with the win, finishing tops to progress.