Gray through to round three

Adrian Gray is through to round three of the Speedy Services UK Darts Open

The St Leonards thrower won two matches in the deciding leg last night (Thursday) to move into the last 64 of an event known as ‘the FA Cup of Darts’ screened live on Sky Sports.

Gray, who is 77th on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) order of merit, began with a notable 5-4 first round victory over 38th-ranked Steve Brown on stage four and followed that with an identical result against 75th-ranked Irish player Connie Finnan on stage three.

He will next face Dean Stewart in the last of four matches on stage four tonight at approximately 10pm. Stewart, one of four amateur qualifiers left in the prestigious competition, won three matches last night.

The UK Open, unique for having eight stages in play simultaneously in the early rounds, features a mixture of top professionals and amateur qualifiers as 146 players compete for the £40,000 first prize.

Professionals competed in a series of eight qualifying events earlier this year, with the top 114 players progressing to play in Bolton, where the leading 32 qualifiers enter at the third round stage.

Elsewhere in the draw, world champion Phil Taylor and James Wade avoided upsets on the opening night, while Ted Hankey won through to a battle of world champions with John Part.