Huddersfield darts star James Wilson has secured his place in round two of the PDC World Darts Championship.

Wilson saw off Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski – the reigning World Masters winner – with a 3-1 victory on the opening day of the tournament.

Wilson, now sporting the nickname ‘Lethal Biscuit’ after having originally had the ‘Jammy Dodger’ tag, slipped behind but levelled proceedings by taking the second set – picking up his scoring in the process.

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.

Michael van Gerwen

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 deficit to 2-1.

That sniff of danger was all the reigning champion needed though to move up another gear as he checked out 114 at the start of the fourth set, and once in front he never looked back as he powered to the winning line and set up a second round clash with James Wilson.

“It’s always nice to come back to Alexandra Palace for the World Championship and a great game like this to start the tournament off is good for your confidence,” said Van Gerwen, who has now won 30 successive matches.

“I also want to say well done to Christian Kist as well because he put me under pressure, he played well, he had over a 100 average. It was a nice start for me and I’m glad I won this game.

“I knew my form was there but at some points it didn’t really come out. I can’t really complain because I think I put on a fantastic performance for everyone and also for myself - it’s a nice way to start off the tournament, it gives you a good feeling.

“I know what he can do, lately he’s been struggling with a bit of trouble with his arm, but I think he’s over it because he played a great game - I think anyone else he would have played tonight he would have given them a great game, but I did an step extra when I had to.

“It was a phenomenal performance for the first round as the first round is always difficult. I like to start straight away in top gear because if you underestimate people they can kill you – you have to perform round after round, game after game and leg after leg because it’s the most important tournament of the year.”

Former Lakeside Champion Steve Beaton kicked-off this year’s event on his 27th straight World Championship appearance with a reasonably comfortable 3-1 victory over Irish debutant William O’Connor.