PDC World Darts Championship LIVE: Results and scores

Consistent scoring means Brendon Dolan gets the first crack at winning the set but he’s way off hitting the bull and has to set up.

Mansell’s reply sees him hit 19, then the treble and has one dart to land double top… it goes wide!

Dolan comes back to the oche and checks out to win the first set!

The first 180 of the match lands for Mansell who leaves himself with a 40 finish. Dolan’s reply is to send two darts into the treble 20 before the third bounces out of the board.

Mansell lands the double with his first attempt. The opening set is going down to the wire.

The Northern Irishman is starting to flex his muscles as he rattles off a second successive leg to get in front for the first time in the match.

Dolan responds immediately.

He checks out 32 with Mansell still having three figures on the board. This match is Dolan’s first of the tournament and he’s starting to settle into it.

Mickey Mansell strikes first!

A 15 dart leg was measured and composured as he took advantage of some poor scoring from Brendan Dolan. Mansell sets up a finish of 161 but he’s so far ahead he chooses to set up with a trip of 95.

Leaving two darts at double 18 to take the first leg he undershoots his first attempt before switching over and nailing double 9!

Here come the players. Friday’s darts action is about to get underway…

As well as the Sid Waddell Trophy, there is £2.5m in prize money on offer for the World Darts Championship with the champion netting £500,000.

The runner-up earns a cool £200,000 while semi-finalists will pocket £100,000 each and those that reach the quarter-finals winning £50,000.

Fourth-round and third-round losers earn themselves £35,000 and £25,000 respectively while there is £15,000 on offer for the 32 players knocked out in the second round and the 32 first-round losers will take away £7,500.

The action is just starting on Sky Sports Darts. Brendan Dolan faces a second round showdown against Mickey Mansell and the players will be heading onto the stage shortly to get the afternoon session underway.

It’s 8pm on the opening night of the World Darts Championship and Michael van Gerwen is sinking a pint to raucous roars at Alexandra Palace. It’s not the Michael van Gerwen, admittedly, although from a distance there is the same pink bald head, the same iconic lime green shirt, and if you discount the slightly smaller, rather rounder frame it makes for a convincing double.

Van Gerwen, the three-time world champion and last year’s beaten finalist, didn’t play here until Tuesday but as the man wearing his costume finishes his beer and the room erupts to chants of “Oooooh, Michael van Gerwen!”, the party at Ally Pally is underway. It is utter carnage already.

Later, Michael Smith, the world No 1 and conqueror of Van Gerwen in last year’s final, will take to the stage at the front of the packed hall and begin his title defence. Smith is returning to Ally Pally for the first time since his victory over Van Gerwen, a match that changed his life and produced the greatest leg of darts the sport has ever seen.

Smith’s historic nine-darter in the World Championship final, which came just seconds after Van Gerwen had his own shot at immortality, became the leg that was heard around the world: Wayne Mardle’s iconic commentary – “I CAN’T SPAKE, I CAN’T SPAKE” – helped create the sport’s first genuinely global viral moment, racking up over 30m views on social media.