By Alex Moss
10 JANUARY 2017 • 4:56PM
Casey Gallagher produced a stunning comeback to knock out top ladies seed Deta Hedman in the 2017 BDO World Championship at Lakeside this afternoon.
The 20-year-old had lost in the first round on her two previous appearances at Lakeside, but battled back from a set down and survived seven match darts against her to beat Hedman in a deciding set.
A closely-fought first set saw all five legs go with throw, as Hedman checked out 114 and 88 in the third and fifth legs to take a 1-0 lead.
Hedman looked set for a place in the quarter-finals as she established a 2-0 lead in the second set, but after missing seven missed darts in the fourth leg it was Gallagher who checked out 117 in the deciding leg to force a final set.
More missed doubles in the first two legs of the third set by Hedman were capitalised on by Gallagher, who made it six legs in a row as she took the deciding set 3-0 to complete the biggest win of her young career.
Danny Noppert fired in the highest average of this year’s tournament so far as he saw off Canada’s David Cameron 3-1 on his World Championship debut.
The third seed averaged 98.07, hit six 180s and won eight of his 11 legs in five visits or fewer as he sent out a message to the rest of the field.
After losing the opening two legs of the first set, Noppert produced legs of 15, 12 and 15 darts to go 1-0 in front.
Cameron, buoyed by his first win on the Lakeside stage the previous day, levelled the match up at 1-1, taking out 118 in the deciding leg of the second set.
The momentum looked to have swung Cameron’s way after he landed a brilliant 164 checkout to go 2-1 up in the third set, but Noppert responded with a stunning run of five straight legs to seal the win.
Aided by checkouts of 117 and 116, the Dutchman finished legs in 12, 13, 13, 15 and 14 darts to beat Cameron and advance to the second round.
Richard Veenstra will face Noppert in an all-Dutch clash in the last 16 after he fired in four ton-plus finishes to beat Scotland’s Ross Montgomery 3-1 in the first round.
Veenstra, who reached the semi-finals at Lakeside last year, landed checkouts of 127 and 144 to clinch the first set 3-1, before taking out 121 to force a deciding leg in the next set.
Montgomery survived three set darts from the Dutchman to pinch the set and level up the match, but Veenstra responded with yet another big checkout in the very next leg.
The 14th seed took out 120 and won the third set in straight legs, in 15, 15 and 13 darts, before seeing off a brave fightback from Montgomery in the fourth set to win the set 3-2 and complete a 3-1 win.
Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski caused a major upset as he defeated ninth seed Wesley Harms in straight sets to reach the last 16 at Lakeside for the first time.
The 41-year-old hit 50 per cent of his doubles and won sets 3-2, 3-1 and 3-2 to hand the former semi-finalist Harms an early exit from the tournament.
Ratajski will next face either Lithuania’s Darius Labanauskas or Conan Whitehead, of England, in the second round on Thursday.
Tuesday January 10
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Danny Noppert (3) 3-1 David Cameron
Richard Veenstra (14) 3-1 Ross Montgomery
Deta Hedman (1) 1-2 Casey Gallagher
Wesley Harms (9) 0-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
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