As last year, the William Hill World Darts Championship is developing into a favourite killer. After Rob Cross lost yesterday, Ian White and Michael Smith fail to win their first match. Bully Boy, last year’s finalists, lost against Luke Woodhouse who enjoys the biggest win of his career.
And Mikuru Suzuki came agonisingly close to being the first female player to win a match on the biggest stage before losing a dramatic encounter in a last-leg decider against James Richardson.
Kyle Anderson, Ciaran Teehan, Brendan Dolan, Jose Justicia and Danny Baggish also reached the second round.
Kyle Anderson 3-2 Xiaochen Zong
Ciaran Teehan 3-0 Ross Smith
Brendan Dolan 3-0 Nitin Kumar
Darius Labanauskas 3-1 Ian White (R2)
Jose Justicia 3-0 Arron Monk
Danny Baggish 3-2 Andy Boulton
James Richardson 3-2 Mikuru Suzuki
Luke Woodhouse 3-1 Michael Smith (R2)
