Defending champion Van Gerwen stunned by Gurney in Amsterdam opener

World Series of Darts Finals defending champion and top seed Michael van Gerwen suffered an early exit in Amsterdam, falling 6-5 to Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney in the opening round.

Gurney burst out of the blocks, taking the first three legs without reply. Van Gerwen hit back with five straight legs to put himself on the verge of victory, but Gurney refused to fold, claiming the ninth leg. The turning point came when Van Gerwen failed to convert six match darts, allowing Gurney to level at 5-5 and then win the deciding leg on his own throw.

Gurney's presence in the draw was itself a last-minute development — he was called up as a replacement after Lourence Ilagan withdrew from the 32-man field.

He now advances to face England's Ross Smith in Saturday's last 16, after Smith beat Kevin Doets 6-3.

Other results

World number one Luke Littler begins his campaign on Friday against former UK Open champion Danny Noppert, whom he recently thrashed 6-0 en route to winning the Czech Darts Open.

World number two Luke Humphries also came through an England-Netherlands clash, beating Jermaine Wattimena 6-4. Dutch number one Gian van Veen gave the home crowd something to cheer, defeating Chris Dobey 6-2.

Dirk van Duijvenbode recovered from 4-1 down to beat Sweden's Viktor Tingstrom 6-4, while Ryan Searle hit four maximums in a 6-2 win over former world champion Rob Cross. Searle will next face Josh Rock, who won the last three legs to edge Stephen Bunting 6-5.

Karel Sedlacek marked his tournament debut with a 6-4 victory over New Zealand's Ben Robb and will face van Veen in the next round.