Sensational Clayton steals the show on day two at Winmau World Masters

Jonny Clayton produced a breathtaking screen to move on to Winmau World Masters Second Round Friday night as Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen also celebrated opening rounds victories in Milton Keynes.

Day two of the renewed World Masters saw the remaining eight bands from the first round take place at Arena MK as Clayton registered his highest TV average to defeat Martin Schindler.

Welshman was an average of 112.77 to deny German number one Schindler in an astonishing competition, landed five 180s and converted 66% of his attempts at double in the process.

Clayton produced winning legs of 11, 16, 12, 10, 12 and 17 darts to mitigate a majestic screen that converted a stag of 121 combinations to tread a 105 average from Schindler.

“Everything clicked tonight,” Reflected the world’s number seven that won Masters back in 2021.

“I had to produce my best against a player like Martin, and fortunately I did, so I have a big smile on my face!

“I want to return to my best and I want to push hard. Hopefully I can repeat that performance tomorrow. “

World Champion Littler also impressed on a high quality evening and breeze past Belgium’s Andy Baetens in under 11 minutes to start a winning start in Milton Keynes.

Littler and Baetens exchanged teams in the opening set before the Teenage Sensation took control and rolled five consecutive legs to prevail with an average of 104.

“I knew there would be a big pace for the game,” Reflected Littler, who will now take on ten-time television titles James Wade for a place in the quarterfinals.

“My finishing was very good tonight and it should be because Andy is a dangerous player.

“I would very much like to win another bigger title, and this would of course be a new major to add to the list, but it’s a very strong field, so I just want to focus on tomorrow night.”

Dutch superstar van Gerwen ran a 3-1 winner against former world’s youth champion Bradley Brooks in his opener and won seven out of nine legs to mitigate a dominant screen.

“I felt really comfortable tonight,” declared van Gerwen, who won the masters on five consecutive occasions between 2015 and 2019.

“I played some really good darts in programming. I had a couple of 11, 12 and 13 darts, but at some points I still made it incredibly hard for myself.

“I could easily have an average of over 100, but you have to live with it and move on, and I have to make sure I’m even sharper in the next round.”

Van Gerwen’s reward is a last 16 showdown against Dimitri van den Bergh, who rolled six consecutive legs to explain two-time world champion Gary Anderson in tonight’s final.

Anderson claimed the opening set in convincing style, only for Van den Bergh to respond with a quartet 14-darters, followed by legs of 15 and 13 darts to finish the job.

Nathan Aspinall also won through an affair of high quality against Andrew Gilding, an average of 103 and landed six of his eight attempts at double to prevail in a battle over the former British open champions.

The Stockport star started the competition with a sublime 161 finish, and he maintained the groundbreaking on the outer ring to create another round of showdown against Cameron Menzies.

“Everyone knows I’m a good player, but I’ve been missing so much confidence,” revealed Aspinall, a semi -finalist in Milton Keynes 12 months ago.

“The whole package was there tonight, and I’ve been out of the stage probably the happiest and most convinced that I’ve been in three years!”

Menzies booked his place in round two at the expense of sixth seed Dave Chisnall and attached six of his 12 attempts at double to complete a 3-1 win.

Ryan Searle defeated the 2023 Masters Master Chris Dobey at the same scoreline to create a showdown against Clayton after the Bedlington star missed a dart at the top to force a fifth and decisive set.

Elsewhere, Wade won through a Topsy-Turvy Five-Set match against the World Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker in Friday’s curtain uprising and wrapped the procedure with a pure coward in set of five.

After the end of the first round, the last 16 will take place across two sessions on Saturday, as world champion Littler takes on ten-gangttitelvinder Wade.

Van Gerwen and Van Den Bergh also lock horns in a blockbuster clash, with the world’s number one Luke Humphries up against Northern Ireland’s leading player Josh Rock.

Stephen Bunting and Peter Wright go head-to-head in a repeat of their last eight clashes at Alexandra Palace, while Australian number one Damon Heta meets 2021 World Champion Gerwyn Price.

Winmau World Masters is broadcast live on ITV4 in England and through PDC’s worldwide TV partners, including Dazn and Viaplay, with cover also available at PDCTV (excluding subscribers in the UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland).

2025 Winmau World Masters
Friday 31. January
First round x8
James Wade 3-2 Mike de Decker (2-0, 0-2, 2-0, 1-2, 2-0)
Cameron Menzies 3-1 Dave Chisnall (2-1, 2-0, 0-2, 2-0)
Jonny Clayton 3-1 Martin Schindler (2-1, 2-0, 0-2, 2-0)
Nathan Aspinall 3-0 Andrew Gilding (2-0, 2-0, 2-1)
Ryan Searle 3-1 Chris Dobey (2-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-1)
Luke Littler 3-0 Andy Baetens (2-1, 2-0, 2-0)
Michael van Gerwen 3-1 Bradley Brooks (2-0, 1-2, 2-0, 2-0)
Dimitri van den Bergh 3-1 Gary Anderson (0-2, 2-0, 2-0, 2-0)

Saturday, February 1st
Afternoon session (1245 GMT)
4x second round
William O’Connor against Danny Noppert
Damon Heta V Gerwyn Price
Stephen Bunting against Peter Wright
Luke Humphries against Josh Rock

Saturday, February 1st
Afternoon session (1900 GMT)
4x second round
Jonny Clayton against Ryan Searle
Cameron Menzies against Nathan Aspinall
Luke Littler against James Wade
Michael van Gerwen against Dimitri van den Bergh

Best of seven sets, best of three legs per Set.