JOE Cullen came through a tough opening match at the World Grand Prix last night, beating Damon Heta 2-1 in a rollercoaster encounter.

The Bradford thrower was knocked out by Ross Smith 2-0 in round one last year, just days before the death of his mother from cancer.

But in a much better frame of mind going into this year's tournament, and following a stellar year on the PDC circuit, Cullen was more than hopeful of a deep run at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.

He made the perfect start against Australian opponent Heta, in what was a tight first set.

With both players having won two legs apiece, Heta had the darts in the decider, but Cullen always had the edge.

A sensible non-checkout took the Wyke star from 170 down to his favourite finish, double 16, and he polished that off to take a 1-0 lead.

But Heta destroyed Cullen in the second set, setting the tone with a 115 checkout in the opening leg, and eventually winning it with a whitewash to draw the pair level.

That did not faze the Bradford star one bit, and he moved into a 2-1 lead in the decisive third set.

The fourth leg was on Cullen's throw too, and he made no mistake, giving himself six match darts with Heta way back on 239.

He cleaned up double eight with the third of those to ensure a safe passage into the last-16.

Interestingly, both players ended the game with exactly the same average, 91.61.

Cullen will have his work cut out to win his next encounter though, which is tomorrow night against world number one Gerwyn Price, who hammered Martin Schindler 2-0 in his opening game, losing just one leg in the whole match.