Beaten but by no means disgraced! Unicorn star Ronny Huybrechts put up a superb display on Monday night at the Alexandra Palace
But the Belgian was eventually beaten 3-1 by World No.4 Daryl Gurney.
It was a terrific match. Ronny averaged 110 in a remarkable first set but lost it and was always chasing from that point.
Gurney started the match with seven perfect darts. He won it in 10 darts. Back came Huybrechts as he hit 13 and 11 darters and the Unicorn man then missed one dart at 'tops' for the set and it proved to be a game changer.
The Irishman went on a run of six straight legs. He was two sets up and a leg in front in the third set. However Huybrechts deserves a lot of credit. He hit back to take set three but was then undone by an outrageous finish from Gurney.
With Ronny sat on 32 to go one up in the fourth set, Gurney nailed a 170 finish and didn't look back. He took his 180 tally to seven as he wrapped it up with a 101 average.
But Huybrechts played his part and pushed Gurney all the way.
By STUART PYKE at the Alexandra Palace
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC
