CARLOW NATIVE STEVE Lennon has reached the second round of the PDC World Darts Championship following his victory over Daniel Larsson at the Alexandra Palace.
Lennon hit 17 140s, four 180’s and averaged 96.95 on the way to a 3-1 win over the Swede.
The 2019 World Cup of Darts finalist built up a 2-0 lead before Larsson rallied with a 3-0 win in the third set.
Lennon added two maximums in the fourth set to secure the set with a 3-0 win and set-up a second-round clash with South Africa’s Devon Petersen, who is ranked 10th in the world.
The pair will meet on Tuesday evening.
🗣 𝗟𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 19, 2020
Hear from Steve Lennon who was certainly feeling the pressure in his first round win over Daniel Larsson pic.twitter.com/NsYebkjh8Z
“I was really nervous for this match today for some reason because obviously, the Worlds [over] the last few years haven’t been really kind to me,” Lennon said after his win.
“When I went two sets up, I thought this time it won’t happen to me and there was a bit of a slack in the third set. Only I played so well in the fourth set, if it went two sets on I think I would have crumbled.
“I’ve played so many games playing so well and the games I do win, I seem to play crap. I need to change that around somehow.
“This is the one tournament you want to play your best. There’s so much at stake with ranking money and obviously the prize money as well. It feels more like a Player’s Championship without the crowd, so I think that might help.
“If I just stay consistent, who knows what can happen?”
Speaking about the prospect of facing Petersen, Lennon replied:
“The last couple of years, he hasn’t been playing well. And this year, he just took off to another level so obviously I just do enough to beat him.”
