WES NEWTON 5-2 MAGNUS CARIS

WES NEWTON recovered from a stuttering start to defeat Magnus Caris 5-2 in his opening Group F contest at the William Hill Grand Slam of Darts.

The world number seven, who has failed to win past the group stages in his previous two appearances at the Wolverhampton Civic, fell 2-0 behind before putting together a run of five successive winning legs.

Caris made a confident start on his Grand Slam debut, winning the first leg with a 79 finish before hitting double eight to secure a break of throw in the second after Newton missed a dart at double 19 to level.

The Swede was guilty of missing four darts at doubles for a 3-0 lead which allowed Newton to steal the third leg on double 16, and the Fleetwood ace levelled the match when he hit double 12 to win the fourth.

The fifth leg was finely balanced before Newton hit a 177 followed by an 80 finish to lead the match for the first time.

That gave Newton the momentum, but Caris held the advantage in the sixth only to miss three darts at doubles as and Newton took a fourth leg in a row by landing double two with his third dart.

Newton was now in command and he kicked off leg seven with a 180 and won the leg in 13 darts to confirm victory in his opening group match.