ROSS SMITH secured his first Alexandra Palace victory with a 3-1 success over Paul Lim in round one of the 2018/19 William Hill World Darts Championship.
A strong start from Smith saw him land a 106 finish to take the opening set, before turning on the style with a 138 checkout in the second on his way to doubling the advantage.
Crowd favourite Lim, who came agonisingly close to a nine-darter at last year's event, won three successive legs to pull one back.
However, that was as good as it got for the 64-year-old as Smith took the final set without reply to run out a comfortable 3-1 victor, and he will now face Daryl Gurney in round two.
Match Stats
Averages:
Smith - 91.89
Lim - 91.28
180s:
Smith - 2
Lim - 1
Highest Finish:
Smith - 138
Lim - 76
100+ Checkouts:
Smith - 2
Lim - 0
Finishing:
Smith - 9/18
Lim - 5/16
