Dave Chisnall crashed out of the World Darts Championship after suffering a dramatic last-gasp defeat to Ricky Evans, while former world champion Rob Cross was also eliminated in a notable session at Alexandra Palace.
Chisnall won the first set of a scrambled contest, but needed to recover from trailing 2-1 to extend their epic clash into the final set, where both players survived the match darts to take it to the extra matches.
Evans fired a checkout of 110 on his way to advancing again and saw Chisnall recover from a shocking counting error in a more than a ton finish to hold the shot, with ‘Rapid Ricky’ claiming the final leg of the match to send another seed heading for an early exit.
In an epic pre-Christmas session, Daryl Gurney overcame a deciding set against Florian Hempel and world junior champion Gian Van Veen was knocked out by Ricardo Pietreczko, before Cross was defeated 3-1 by Scott Williams in the final match of the night.
Cross’s early exit made him the 14th to be eliminated at the round of 16 stage of this year’s tournament, the highest at this stage in the tournament’s history, with Williams, defeated by eventual champion Luke Humphries. in the semi-finals last year. – the last to get his place in the third round.
Early Christmas classic in an incredible session
Evans brought the festive cheer with his Christmas-themed t-shirt and Shakin Stevens track, only for Chisnall to take control early by opening with a 12-dart break and holding the shot on the next.
Chisnall responded to Evans’ impressive 126 checkout and missed ‘Big Fish”s attempt by taking the set with a 15 dart, but wasted a dart on D5 late in the second to allow ‘Rapid Ricky’ to break the set. shot and level. .
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Moments after Chisnall almost managed a checkout of 170, Evans hit a big 126 to fight back in the first set.
Evans took the lead by sealing the third set with a 13-dart shot, but saw Chisnall hit back with a clean sweep in the fourth, with ‘Chizzy’ having to come from behind on three occasions to lead a thrilling final set.
Both players missed the match’s darts during a chaotic final stretch, where Evans extended the contest with a remarkable 110 checkout to recover and then found a 17-dart hold to put a leg away.
Chisnall survived an ill-timed and poorly counted finish to find the ‘House of Madness’ on his next visit and drag the set to an 11th and final leg, where Evans got the better of him to post a final 52 and spark wild celebrations.
“I played against a world-class darts player there and I played pretty well,” Evans he told Sky Sports. “It’s nice to say I won a game and played well. It’s usually boring! I wish I’d beaten Chizzy 3-0 because then my clock was beating a little slower!”
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Evans delivers a brilliant and funny post-match interview with Abigail Davies and mocks the Alexandra Palace crowd for supporting him during his victory over Chisnall.
Gurney survives scare as Cross advances
Another upset appeared to be on the cards when Gurney dropped a set against Hempel, who was on the verge of taking the second set to a decider when the Northern Irishman fired in a checkout of 156 to break with a 15 dart and level the match.
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Daryl Gurney leveled up his match with Florian Hempel by hitting a great 156 to make it 1-1
Hempel took the second set on straight legs and came within a stretch of victory during a tight fourth set, before Gurney unleashed 13 consecutive darts to level the match and then break the German at the start of the final set.
Gurney held the shot in the next en route to closing out a hard-fought victory, leaving him against seventh seed Jonny Clayton in the third round, while Cross was another big-name exit after a disappointing loss to Williams.
Cross held the shot in the final stretch of the first set before Williams took the second with a 14-dart hold in another decisive leg, and the contest also threatened to go all the way when Cross checked out at 130 at the start of the third set.
Williams won the next three matches to advance a set, capitalizing on some poor finishing from Cross, before securing victory in the next set (and avenging her loss to the Englishman two years earlier) by serving a 14-darter at the top of the final stretch. .
Elsewhere, Van Veen missed eight darts to break his opponent in a difficult first leg and saw Pietreczko run away in the first set, although he responded by firing off a brilliant 12-dart hold with a checkout of 127 on his way to leveling the contest in the second. .
Pietreczko advanced again when he posted a 122 finish in a third set won in straight legs, then broke Van Veen with a 16 dart and held the shot in the next to reach the third round for the second year in a row.
Clayton overcomes the epic final stage and Rock makes his way
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Jonny Clayton and Mickey Mansell faced off in an epic final set that included three over-a-ton finishes, a 10-dart leg, lots of darts and a sudden death finish.
Clayton seemed to be marching towards the finish line as he won six matches in a row, only for Mickey Mansell to force a deciding set and then produce astonishing 136 and 154 finishes to come within a stretch of victory.
The Welshman won the next two matches to extend the contest and both players missed the darts of the match, taking the set to a penalty shootout in the final stretch, where he took advantage of having the darts to find a way over the line.
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Mansell made a checkout of 136 and followed it up with a finish of 154 in a deciding set against Clayton.
Elsewhere, Josh Rock breezed past Rhys Griffin 3-0, losing just two matches to set up a last-16 tie with Chris Dobey, while the other two seeds in action on Monday afternoon also went through.
Poland’s number one Krzysztof Ratajski beat Alexis Toylo 3-1 and Andrew Gilding beat Martin Lukeman by the same score. Ratajski now faces Kevin Doets, who upset former world champion Michael Smith, and Gilding faces Nathan Aspinall.
When will the third round take place?
Darts returns after Christmas on December 27, with four consecutive days of double sessions at Alexandra Palace to complete the third and fourth rounds before December 30.
World number one Luke Humphries plays Nick Kenny and reigning Premier League champion Luke Littler takes on Ian White, while Michael van Gerwen takes on Brendan Dolan and former world champion Gerwyn Price entertains Joe Cullen.
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Luke Littler took the final set against Ryan Meikle in just 32 darts, setting up a third round encounter with Ian White.
They have a free night on New Year’s Eve before the quarter-finals which will be played over two sessions on New Year’s Day, with the semi-finals on January 2 and the final on Friday, January 3.
You can find the complete day-by-day schedule for this year’s tournament. here.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live until January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and more sports highlights with NOW
