World Darts Championship 2014: Subdued Phil Taylor overcomes off-stage troubles to see off Jyhan Artut
Taylor's mother has been seriously ill but the 16-time world champion was able to record a comprehensive 3-0 victory, with Peter Wright and Andy Hamilton also triumphing
Phil Taylor put personal troubles aside to ease into the second round of the PDC World Championship.
Taylor's mother has been seriously ill and the 16-time world champion was noticeably subdued during a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Germany's Jyhan Artut.
Artut did not win a leg until the third set, and he delayed Taylor's victory by breaking the throw to make it 2-2, but the 54-year-old responded in kind to clinch victory.
Taylor said afterwards he had been unsettled by Artut complaining throughout that the board was not straight.
Assessing his performance on Sky Sports, the second seed said: "Not brilliant. Bit lazy, bit slack. He kept complaining about the board. I looked at the board, it was level. It did put me off and maybe that was his game plan."
Fifth seed Peter Wright, the runner-up to Michael van Gerwen 12 months ago, was also a 3-0 winner but the scoreline was rather flattering against Gerwyn Price.
The opening match of the night nearly produced an upset but 12th seed Andy Hamilton edged past Dave Richardson 3-2.
Richardson won successive legs to lead 2-1 but Hamilton hit back to book his place in round two.
In the final match of the night, qualifier Sascha Stein upset the odds to see of Stuart Kellett 3-1 after coming through a preliminary round match against Kim Viljanen earlier in the night.
Results:
1st rd: Andy Hamilton (Eng) bt Dave Richardson (Can) 3-2
Preliminary rd: Sascha Stein (Ger) bt Kim Viljanen (Fin) 4-1
1st rd: Peter Wright (Sco) bt Gerwen Price (Wal) 3-0
1st rd: Phil Taylor (Eng) bt Jyhan Artut (Ger) 3-0
1st rd: Sascha Stein (Ger) bt Stuart Kellett (Eng) 3-1
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