World Darts Championship: Ricky Evans stuns Dave Chisnall as Rob Cross pounces at Alexandra Palace | Darts news

Dave Chisnall crashed out of the World Darts Championship after suffering a dramatic final defeat to Ricky Evans, while former world champion Rob Cross was also sent off in a remarkable session at Alexandra Palace.

Chisnall won the first set of a back-and-forth contest but had to recover from 2-1 down to extend their epic encounter to a final set, where both players survived match darts to take – it on the extra legs.

Evans fired a 110 on his way back and saw Chisnall recover from a shocking discount in a final ton more to hold the toss, with ‘Rapid Ricky’ later claiming the final leg of the match to send a another seed heading for an early exit.

An epic pre-Christmas session saw Daryl Gurney go through a final decision against Florian Hempel and world junior champion Gian Van Veen knocked out by Ricardo Pietreczko, before Cross was beaten 3-1 by Scott Williams in the final match of the night

Cross’ early exit made him the 14th seed to be eliminated at the last 64 stage of this year’s tournament, the highest ever at this stage in the tournament’s history, with Williams beaten by the eventual champion Luke Humphries in last year’s semi-finals. – the last to claim their place in the third round.

Early Christmas classic in incredible session

Evans brought the festive cheer in his Christmas shirt and Shakin Stevens track, only for Chisnall to take early control by opening with a 12-dart break and holding the throw in the next.

Chisnall responded to Evans’ impressive checkout of 126 and missed the ‘Big Fish’ attempt to take the set with a 15-dart, but wasted a seven-dart at D5 in the final leg of the second to allow “Rapid Ricky” to break the throw and tie. .

Evans took the lead by sealing the third set with a shot of 13, but saw Chisnall fight 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 match darts during a chaotic closing stretch, where Evans extended the contest with a remarkable checkout of 110 to pull back and then found a 17-dart hold to pull a leg away.

Chisnall survived an untimely mistimed finish to find the ‘Mad House’ on his next visit and drag the set into the 11th and final leg, where Evans took out tops for a 52 finish and sparked wild celebrations.

“I’ve played a world-class darts player there and I’ve played pretty well,” Evans. he told Sky Sports. “It’s nice to say I’ve won a game and played well, it’s usually boring! I wish I’d beaten Chizzy 3-0 because then my ticker would tick a little slower!”

Gurney survives the scare as Cross advances

Another upset was on the cards when Gurney went down in one set against Hempel, who was on the verge of taking the second set in a decider when the Northern Irishman fired in a checkout of 156 to break with a shot of 15 and tie the game.

Hempel took the second set with straight legs and moved to within a leg of victory in a tight fourth set, before Gurney delivered 13 straight dart legs to level the match and then break the German early in the last set

Gurney held the next throw on his way to close out a hard-fought win, leaving him to face seventh seed Jonny Clayton in the third round, while Cross was another big-name exit after a disappointing loss to Williams.

Cross held the toss in the final leg of the first set before Williams took the second with a 14-dart haul in another decisive stage, and the contest also threatened to go the distance when Cross checked out for 130 at the start of the third set

Williams won the next three legs to go a set ahead, taking advantage of a poor finish from Cross, before claiming victory in the next set – and avenging her defeat to the Englishman two years earlier – by pulling a shot of 14 at the top of the match. final stage

Elsewhere, Van Veen missed eight darts to break his opponent in a cheeky first leg and saw Pietreczko race through the opening set, although he responded by firing a brilliant 12-dart hold to checkout 127 in the his way to equalize the contest in the second. .

Pietreczko took the lead when he posted a 122 finish in a straight-leg third set, then broke Van Veen with a 16-shot and held the shot in the next to reach the third round for the second straight year.

Clayton overcomes the epic final stage and Rock breezes

Clayton looked to be heading for the finish when he won six stages in a row, only for Mickey Mansell to force a deciding set and then produce stunning finishes of 136 and 154 to move within a stage of victory.

The Welshman won the next two legs to extend the contest and both players missed match darts, taking the set to a final shootout where he took advantage of having the darts to find a way over the line .

Elsewhere, Josh Rock eased past Rhys Griffin 3-0, losing just two legs to set up a last-32 tie with Chris Dobey, while the other two seeds in action on Monday afternoon also went through.

Polish No. 1 Krzysztof Ratajski beat Alexis Toylo 3-1 and Andrew Gilding beat Martin Lukeman by the same scoreline, with Ratajski now facing Kevin Doets – who stunned former world champion Michael Smith – and Gilding against Nathan Aspinall .

When is the third round?

Darts return after Christmas on 27 December, with four consecutive days of double sessions at Alexandra Palace to leave the third and fourth rounds completed on 30 December.

World No.1 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 his former world champion Gerwyn Price entertains Joe Cullen.

They have a night off on New Year’s Eve before the quarter-finals held over two sessions on New Year’s Day, with the semi-finals on 2 January and the final on Friday 3 January.

You can check the full day-by-day schedule for this year’s tournament here.

Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch all the matches live until January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Play darts and more sports with ARA