World Matchplay: Gerwyn Price survives Martin Schindler scare to reach second round

Gerwyn Price survived a scare to beat Martin Schindler 10-8 and reach the World Matchplay second round at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Second seed Price, 37, was 4-2 down but took out an 88 bullseye finish to level at 4-4.

Schindler, 25, then took out a huge 141 finish to level the match again at 5-5.

Price, the world number two, clawed his way back into the match, winning three legs on the bounce including back-to-back 11-dart legs to lead 9-7.

Germany's Schindler kept the pressure on his Welsh opponent, but it was 2020 world champion Price who kept his cool in sweltering conditions on the hottest day of the year to get the win and reach the last 16.

"I put myself under a lot of pressure earlier on in the game," Price said. "Thankfully I found some of my A-game towards the end of the match and felt like everything was going in, and I couldn't miss.

"The first game is always the toughest, but every game now I'm in is going to get tougher and tougher, but I feel like I've got my confidence back which is the main thing in this game."

Price will now play Dave Chisnall in the second round after the fifteenth seed recorded a 10-7 victory over Kim Huybrechts.

Earlier in the evening, 2019 champion Rob Cross made an incredible comeback from 8-2 down to beat Chris Dobey 11-9 and book his place in the last 16.

Tenth seed Cross will play Jose de Sousa in the next round after he beat Germany's Gabriel Clemens 10-6.