Wilson off flying start

Wilson, who moved to the PDC back in 2015, took the lead for the first time in the match taking the third set 3-1.

The turnaround was completed in sensational fashion as Wilson nailed his fifth 180 to storm into round two at the Alexandra Palace.

Wilson will now face reigning champion Michael van Gerwen in round two, but he will fancy his chances against the world No1 following his 98 average and 45 per cent checkout rate against Ratajski.

Wilson will face Van Gerwen on Friday, December 22, and said: “It’s a good win for me and I’ve got massive confidence going forward.

“I wasn’t nervous but I was getting a few bounce outs and I had to put it in my mind that it wasn’t me.

“I tried throwing a bit harder and they just went haywire, so I just went back to my natural throw and hope that they went in and stayed in.”

Van Gerwen hit a 180 with the opening three darts of the defence of his William Hill World Darts title as he defeated Christian Kist 3-1 with the third-best first round average in tournament history.

Van Gerwen hit the ground running on the opening night of the tournament as he produced a standard-setting 106.17 average to fire out a warning to his rivals that he will not be relinquishing his title easily.

That opening 180 helped Van Gerwen take the first leg in 14 darts before he followed up with a 15-darter and capped off the first set with a 12-darter, highlighted with a 141 finish.

Kist needed to reply with in a 13-darter just to finally get a leg on the board as he went two sets down, but in a quality third set Kist withstood two 12-darters, two 180s and a 138 checkout from Van Gerwen to reduce the