PDC World Championship: Josh Rock beats Callan Rydz to reach third round

Joshua Rock will now face England’s two-time world semi-finalist Nathan Aspinall in the second round

Northern Ireland’s Josh Rock reached the third round at the PDC World Championship with a 3-0 dismissal of England’s Callan Rydz.

World youth champion Rock, 21, did not need to produce his best form to overcome last year’s quarter-finalist, who struggled badly with his doubles.

Rydz missed a shot at double 16 which would have taken a nervy first set with Rock’s double four moving him 1-0 up.

As Rydz’s woeful finishing continued, Rock lost only two further legs.

Despite playing in his debut championship at Alexandra Palace, the Antrim native has been touted as a title contender and while his own scoring and finishing flagged at times on Wednesday, victory sets up a third-round meeting with two-time world semi-finalist Nathan Aspinall.

“I’m glad I got the win but Callan didn’t play his game and I still haven’t played my game yet,” Rock told Sky Sports after his win.

“I know there’s more to come from Josh Rock. When you stand up on this stage, obviously there’s different pressure on you. You have to learn to deal with it.”

Rock missed double 14 as Rydz moved 1-0 in the opening set but the Englishman’s double troubles then really surfaced as he missed three chances which allowed the Northern Irishman to level.

Further Rydz failures on double top saw Rock edge 2-1 up and after the Antrim man missed the same double in leg four, the Newcastle player’s errant shot at double 16 in leg five was punished as his opponent took the set with a double-four finish.

Rydz’s nightmare day with his finishing continued in set two as Rock clinched it 3-1 after losing the first leg and it was the same margin in set three.

Rock managed to hit only 36% of his doubles and his scoring average was just over 92 but those statistics still proved enough against the Englishman who notched just four of his 27 doubles.

In the first match of Wednesday’s afternoon session, Cork man John O’Shea lost a 2-0 lead as he was edged out 3-2 by Darius Labanauskas as the Lithuanian secured a tense victory despite several stunning scoring bursts by his opponent.