World Darts Championship: Gerwen beat Joe Cullen in first round

Michael van Gerwen survived an alarm in his first round match against Joe Cullen to defeat him 3-1 on the premiere night of the World Darts Championship.

The defending champion began gradually and permitted Cullen to take a stun lead - yet Van Gerwen developed into the match and in the long run outlived the underdog.

The Dutchman got a massive welcome at Alexandra Palace as he started his protection of the Sid Waddell trophy however Cullen staggered the overexcited people into hush by bringing the first leg with a bullseye checkout.

Van Gerwen reacted with the following two legs however Cullen adjusted and in spite of the fact that the champion won the opening set it was clear he was in a tight fight.

Cullen twice led the pack in the second set however missed a shot that would have leveled the match. Van Gerwen, as he went 2-0 up, shook his head recognizing the battle that Cullen was setting up.

A look at from 124 gave Cullen the third set regardless of Van Gerwen fighting back from two legs down yet the splendid Dutchman would close matters in the following set.

A momentous succession of three back to back 180s lit up Ally Pally and unleashed the trademark Van Gerwen thunder - it likewise prepared for the ruling champion to take the fourth set and the match.

Spanish qualifier Cristo Reyes made a gigantic stun on the opening day of the PDC World Championship by expelling the No 13 seed Wes Newton.

In the last match of Thursday's night session, the 27-year-old from Tenerife defeated Newton 3-2 after an emotional last leg sudden passing shootout.

Reyes took the opening two sets by three legs to one preceding the Englishman leveled the challenge by securing the following two sets for the loss of only one leg.

Then again, the decider went the distance to the wire with Reyes securing the last leg 6-5 by securing a twofold 16 at the first endeavor.

In spite of the fact that Newton delighted in a finer three-dart normal than his rival (94.61 to 93.47) he will take no further part in the competition.

Both players hit four maximums and delighted in 38 three-dart scores of 100 or more and, for Reyes, it was his second achievement of the night in the wake of passing through a preparatory match with a 4-0 triumph over Christian Perez.