NEWCASTLE’S Callan Rydz beat Middlesbrough’s Glen Durrant in a Tyne-Tees battle in the first round of the Betfred World Matchplay Darts at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens.

Rydz claimed a 10-6 victory to book a second-round meeting with former World champion Rob Cross, who saw off Ross Smith.

Durrant, a three-time World BDO champion, has been in desperately poor form since claiming last year’s Premier League title, and the Teessider looked set for another dispiriting afternoon when a series of missed doubles left him trailing 5-0 at the first interval.

To his credit, Duzza battled back gamely in the remainder of the game, but while his performance improved, he had left himself with much too much ground to recover.

Rydz continued to outperform Durrant on the doubles, and with his scoring also holding up, he eventually closed out a 10-6 victory to claim one of the biggest wins of his career.

The Newcastle-born 23-year-old won his first Pro Tour title earlier this year, and is gradually making his way up the world rankings.

There was a shock in today’s other first-round games, with Luke Humphries knocking out World number four James Wade 10-3.

Cross beat Smith 10-8 to set up a second-round meeting with Rydz, while Krysztof Ratajski impressed as he claimed a 10-4 victory over Irishman Brendan Dolan.