WES NEWTON 3-0 KURT VAN DE RIJCK

WES NEWTON moved into the last 32 of the Ladbrokes World Darts Championship with a 3-0 victory over Belgium's Kurt Van De Rijck.

Newton, who reached the final of the UK Open back in June, will now face Justin Pipe for a place in the last 16 of the tournament next Thursday evening.

Newton, who enjoyed an excellent run to the quarter-finals in last year's competition, started the match well by breaking throw to win the first leg, before taking the second to double his lead.

Van De Rijck won the third leg by hitting double eight before Newton won the set in the next leg with a clinical 108 checkout to take the lead in style.

The Fleetwood ace made a winning start to set two by landing double four to win the first leg before the Belgian held throw to take the second with the aid of the first 180 of the match.

Van De Rijck missed the bullseye for a 121 finish in the third leg and Newton hit double 16 with his third dart to lead 2-1.

The Belgian, who qualified for this tournament through his performances in just six Players Championship events across Europe, hit a superb 136 checkout to take the fourth and force a deciding leg.

Newton had advantage of throw and he made that count by getting to a finish first, and he hit double ten to establish a two set cushion.

Van De Rijck held throw at the start of set three with the aid of his third maximum of the game before Newton hit a 180 of his own in the process of claiming the second leg.

Newton won the third against the darts by landing double ten but was guilty of missing two darts for the match in the next and the Belgian hit an excellent 71 finish under pressure to keep the match alive.

However, the world number seven closed out the game in the deciding leg by hitting double eight with his last dart to progress to the last 32.

"I battled through and got the win, and that's all that matters," said Newton. "Every player's trying their hardest and it's the biggest tournament for every player, and I'm no different.

"I still think there's a lot to come from me and I've not played my best game on TV yet, but I'll keep going and hopefully that will come out.

"You learn something from every game and as long as I keep learning it will make me a better player."