Darts World Cup: Greaves Falls Short at Alexandra Palace

In the end, Nathan Aspinall surprised himself. “I have no bloody idea where that came from all of a sudden.” The 34-year-old was relieved. He had just won his opening match of the World Darts Championship against Lourence Ilagan from the Philippines 3-1 and had a lot more trouble than he even expected. At least the end was promising: Aspinall finished the match with a 170.

The start, however, was extremely bumpy. The loss of the first round was still bearable. Especially since the Englishman was able to repair the damage immediately with the sentence compensation. In the third round, however, things got tight for the “Natter”, who had a lot of expectations in this tournament.

“I’ve probably been up there 20 times, but I put too much pressure on myself today. I have no idea why,” he later wondered. He has already reached the semi-finals twice at Alexandra Palace, and last year only eventual world champion Luke Littler could stop him. Aspinall lost in the quarter-finals. But now there was a threat of disaster. His opponent seemed ready to win a world championship match for the second time in his tenth participation.

Ilagan had taken a 2-1 lead and was ready to win the set 2-1 at his own throw, but Aspinall once again demonstrated his great counter-attacking qualities, checking 84 points on the bullseye for the much-needed break and following up his throw in 14 darts to take the set lead. Impressive.

In the fourth round, Ilagan was even closer to winning the set, had two chances to checkout when the score was 2:1, but didn’t hit Tops in either the first or second attempt. Aspinall punished him with the 2-2 and saved something for himself and the 3200 fans for the decider: with the highest possible finish to win – he ended the duel with a bang.

Martin Schindler meets Barry

A 94 average and 44 percent on the doubles – an overall decent start to the tournament. Above all, he was fully there in crucial situations. The big favorite had already shown himself to be much more calm than his opponent in the Ally Pally Wasp, which was particularly unruly on Friday evening. Ilagan fled from the insect, Aspinall faced the unequal fight.

“I’m relieved. He played fantastically and really put me under pressure,” he later said: “My confidence has never been higher, my head has never been more ready. Maybe I still needed this challenge.”

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Martin Schindler’s next was determined after Aspinall’s match. The German number one will face Irishman Keane Barry in their second round duel on Sunday evening. The world number 55 won the last game of the first round 3-0 against Australian Tim Pusey.

Darts World Cup 2026, results, 1st round

• Kevin Doets (NED) – Matthew Dennant (ENG) 3:1 (2:3:1:1, 3:2, 3:2)
• Ryan Meikle (ENG) – Jesus Salate (Argentina) 3:0 (3:0, 3:0, 3:1)
• Mickey Mansell (NIR) – Leonard Gates (USA) 2:3 (2:3, 3:0, 1:3, 3:1, 0:3)
• Josh Rock (NIR/11) – Gemma Hayter (ENG) 3:1 (3:1, 3:0, 1:3, 3:2)
• William O’Connor (IRL) – Krzysztof Kciuk (POL) 3:0 (3:2, 3:0, 3:0)
• Daryl Gurney (NIR/22) – Beau Greaves (ENG) 3:2 (3:2, 1:3, 3:2, 0:3, 3:1)
• Nathan Aspinall (ENG/15) – Lawrence Ilagan (PHI) 3:1 (2:3, 3:1, 3:2, 3:2)
• Keane Barry (IRL) – Tim Pusey (AUS) 3:0 (3:2, 3:0, 3:1)

If Lutz Wöckener Not exactly trying out any sport on his own, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also about offbeat things like football.