PDC World Championship: Ryan Murray one game away from Michael van Gerwen on debut
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Murray will get his first taste of the Alexandra Palace stage on Thursday - but no fans will be present
Ryan Murray admits a Saturday night showdown with number one seed Michael van Gerwen on his PDC World Championship debut "would be nice".
The 33-year-old from Edinburgh opens against Lourence Ilagan on Thursday for the right to face the Dutchman.
And Murray knows how special Van Gerwen is, having witnessed him produce two nine-dart finishes in a previous meeting three years ago.
"I was involved in a bit of history and I'm quite happy with that," he said.
"It would be nice to play him on Saturday, but one game at a time.
"A lot of people have maybe seen the highlights and just seen the two nine-darters but I played okay, missed a couple of doubles," he adds on the 6-2 loss during UK Open qualifying in 2017.
"I was so focused on watching him. It was all new to me as somebody from the Challenge Tour. It was a fascination, playing such a good player."
Murray, who combines his darting duties with his day job as a printer, is nearing the end of his first season on the PDC Tour.
'Muzz Lightyear' - as he is known - would love to follow in the footsteps of his World Championship-winning fellow countrymen, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson.
"I would definitely like to be world champion, wouldn't we all," he told 大象传媒 Scotland. "This year was about learning the game, trying to get to the Worlds. We have done that so stage one is complete. Stage two would be to go as far as we can.
"Next year has to be a big push to keep my card, if it is a slow progression, then it is. If it goes well and I get up there really quickly, then I hope to stay up there.
"I don't see why anybody can't be as big as anybody they want to be, so we just need to keep playing darts and trying to win as many games as we can and work our way up the ladder."