The first and second round matches of the World Darts Championship are underway at Alexandra Palace and one thing that is inevitable is the shock early exits and upsets. Already today, James Wade has bowed out in straight sets to Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena. With that in mind, here is five of the biggest shocks in the the competition’s history.
Adrian Lewis vs Kevin Munch, 2017 first round The early rounds often give us surprising results, but very few saw this coming. Former back-to-back world champion, Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis took to the stage having never lost in the first round and as the red-hot favourite against 29-year-old Kevin Munch, who won the German Super league finals a month previous to seal a second appearance at the tournament and had given up his job as a landscape gardener to turn professional. German Munch, who won the night's preliminary match against Aleksandr Oreshkin to set up his showdown with the world No 7, produced a sensational comeback as he fought back from a set down for a 3-1 victory, hitting three ton-plus finishes in the process.
Lewis’ first round exit will go down as one of the biggest shocks in the tournament's history. Raymond van Barneveld vs Michael van Gerwen, 2016 third round Raymond van Barneveld came into the 2016 World Darts Championship as an outsider, especially when he came up against the man who has taken over him as the Dutch number one and the world number one, Michael van Gerwen. Former champion van Gerwen was a heavy.
