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Robert Thornton and Paul Nicholson will face each other in the second round of the Ladbrokes World Championship after the pair claimed comfortable victories on Friday evening.

Both triumphed 3-0 in their first round matches at the Alexandra Palace, with Thornton defeating Magnus Caris before Nicholson saw off Co Stompe.

‘The Thorn’ opened the £1 million tournament in style, producing finishes of 130 and 150 twice to conquer Caris with a 99 average.

“It’s not easy to open the biggest tournament in the World,” said the Scotsman, who won the UK Open in June.

“There is more pressure to play well but I’m happy with how it went. I had a few loose darts but I’m pleased to go through.

“It could be anyone’s title this year. In fact, the last three years I’ve gone out to the winner so I’ll have to win it myself!”

Nicholson delivered an assured performance to progress, hitting a 106 in his victory over Stompe.

The Australian will meet Thornton on Friday December 21.

‘The Asset’ said: “I am relieved to be through and that was a big win for me.

“It is the fruit of the hard work I have been putting in but I am going to have to raise my game to beat Robert.

“He has looked increasingly good this year and deserves all the success he is getting.

“I have to go and work even harder now and hope that it pays off next Friday.”

Saturday sees PDC Unicorn World Youth Champion James Hubbard make his debut at the Ally Pally when he takes on Richie Burnett in the afternoon session.

By Chris Murphy

Match reports:

Thornton 3-0 Caris

Nicholson 3-0 Stompe

Images courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC

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A fantastic night of top class professional darts took place on Saturday evening as The Money Shop Untouchables, in association with Choice Bet and Ace High, returned to the Portsmouth Pyramids Centre for the third time.

Around 750 fans packed out the Pyramids to see Michael van Gerwen edge out James Wade in the final to take the title on a wonderful evening of action.

van Gerwen began his run with a 4-1 defeat of local favourite Andy Jenkins in the quarter-finals, with Wade triumphing 4-0 against Co Stompe at that stage.

Simon Whitlock and Vincent van der Voort were the other quarter-final winners, with ‘The Wizard’ sneaking a last leg decider against Arron Monk, while van der Voort pipped Raymond van Barneveld, also winning 4-3.

‘Barney’ had kicked off the evening’s action with a victory against 16-year-old Harry Annals, who had won through the Petersfield Unicorn Under-18 academy to seal his place at the event.

van Gerwen and Wade then both claimed semi-final victories before the Dutchman clinched a 5-3 success in the final.

“It was a fantastic night and I would like to thank the fans,” said ‘Mighty Mike’.

“We all love to play in an event like this because it is almost like a TV tournament and that kind of preparation for the World Championships is great for us.

“The crowd were fantastic and it was good to meet a few of them before, during and after a brilliant event.”

The night started with a VIP reception, hosted by Sky Sports’ John Gwynne, the event’s MC, where he was joined by the players and special guest Rod Harrington, before moving through to the main event.

The action was presided over by PDC referee George Noble and the players were accompanied to the stage by the ever-popular walk-on girls Erica Wild and Sarah Tunnicliffe.

All at MODUS would like to extend a massive thank you to all the players, staff, guests, sponsors, and most importantly the fans for making the show a huge success once again.

By Chris Murphy

Click here to see ticket options for the 2013 Charlton Masters featuring Adrian Lewis, Paul Nicholson, Ted Hankey and Arron Monk.

The draw has been made for the 2013 Ladbrokes World Darts Championship, with the top 32 players in the world rankings being drawn against unseeded qualifiers for the £1 million tournament, which kicks off on December 14 at London’s Alexandra Palace.

World number three James Wade kicks off his campaign against World Championship debutant Peter Hudson.

Reigning European Champion Simon Whitlock and World Grand Prix winner Michael van Gerwen have both been handed first round ties against winners of preliminary round matches.

Five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld will take on Michael Smith, while UK Open winner Robert Thornton is up against Sweden’s Magnus Caris.

Paul Nicholson and Co Stompe will meet in the opening round, while Mark Webster faces Ian White.

Youth stars James Hubbard and Arron Monk have been drawn against Richie Burnett and Peter Wright respectively.

Andy Jenkins will face Justin Pipe on his return to Ally Pally after a two year absence, while Vincent van der Voort meets Stuart Kellet.

Mervyn King takes on Dean Winstanley in one of the picks of the first round draw.

First Round Draw & Draw Bracket
Phil Taylor (1) v Michael Mansell
Wayne Jones (32) v Jerry Hendriks
Paul Nicholson (16) v Co Stompe
Robert Thornton (17) v Magnus Caris
Andy Hamilton (8) v James Richardson
Richie Burnett (25) v James Hubbard
Terry Jenkins (9) v Steve Brown
John Part (24) v Joe Cullen
Simon Whitlock (5) v Muramatsu/Harrington
Colin Osborne (28) v Ilagan/Lewis
Dave Chisnall (12) v Shane Tichowitsch
Andy Smith (21) v Gurney/Marijanovic
Gary Anderson (4) v Komula/Haavisto
Jamie Caven (29) v Rodriguez/Bowles
Raymond van Barneveld (13) v Michael Smith
Brendan Dolan (20) v Mark Jones
Adrian Lewis (2) v Gino Vos
Denis Ovens (31) v Hopp/Pietersen
Kevin Painter (15) v Welge/Chun Nam
Ronnie Baxter (18) v Dennis Priestley
Michael van Gerwen (7) v Lim/Latif Sapup
Peter Wright (26) v Arron Monk
Mark Webster (10) v Ian White
Colin Lloyd (23) v Darin Young
Wes Newton (6) v Johnny Haines
Kim Huybrechts (27) v Scott Rand
Justin Pipe (11) v Andy Jenkins
Mark Walsh (22) v Darren Webster
James Wade (3) v Peter Hudson
Steve Beaton (30) v Kyle Anderson
Mervyn King (14) v Dean Winstanley
Vincent van der Voort (19) v Stuart Kellett