World Darts Championship: Gary Anderson beaten by Jeffrey De Graaf on night of shock exits at Alexandra Palace | Darts News

Two-time world champion Gary Anderson crashed out of the World Darts Championship after a shock second-round loss to Jeffrey de Graaf at Alexandra Palace.

Anderson struggled all through a one-sided contest towards his unseeded opponent, successful solely two legs and changing simply three out of 20 makes an attempt at double on his approach to a straight-sets defeat towards De Graaf.

De Graaf breezed by way of the primary two units and broke Anderson once more within the subsequent, wrapping up a well-known win to e-book a third-round assembly with Paolo Nebrida after Christmas.

Anderson’s birthday to neglect was the primary time he had misplaced his opening match in 16 World Championship appearances, on an evening the place fellow seeds Ross Smith and Martin Schindler have been additionally knocked out.

How Anderson suffered early exit

Anderson was one of many names anticipated to problem favourites Luke Humphries and Luke Littler for the Sid Waddell Trophy, being within the different facet of the draw to final 12 months’s finalist, however did not stay pre-tournament expectations.

De Graaf opened with an 11-dart maintain and fired in a Shanghai end for a second successive ton-plus checkout to interrupt, then responded to a surprising 121 end and 12-darter from Anderson to wrap up the opening set on D9.

The Swede instantly broke with a 13-darter initially of the second and capitalised on six missed darts at double from the ‘Flying Scotsman’ within the subsequent to carry throw, with extra wayward ending from Anderson permitting De Graaf to shut out the set within the following leg.

A visibly annoyed Anderson ended a run of seven consecutive misplaced legs with a superb 11-darter, with the Scot dragging the third set right into a decider after responding to De Graaf successful the third leg by claiming a 14-dart maintain of his personal.

Anderson wanted to interrupt the DeGraaf throw in a final-leg decider to increase the competition, however may solely watch on as De Graaf took out a 76 end on D18 to finish a formidable victory.

“It’s nice,” De Graaf instructed Sky Sports activities. “Gary did not present up as he normally does however I’m very pleased with the win.

“I obtained very nervous after the primary set and after I was 2-0 up I used to be pondering: ‘What’s going on now?’ I’m glad that I obtained by way of ultimately. I’m glad to be right here and let’s preserve going.”

Seeds depart on Sunday of shocks at Ally Pally

Dimitri Van den Bergh averted a clear sweep of seeds by brushing apart Eire’s Dylan Slevin in straight units, incomes the eleventh seed a third-round showdown with Callan Rydz.

The Belgian – who posted six most and a 96 common – fired a 117 checkout to grab the opening set then broke Slevin within the remaining leg of the second, earlier than discovering a 13-dart maintain in one other last-leg decider to finish a formidable begin.

Rydz – the participant with the very best first-round common – claimed his successive straight-sets win of the event, following his 3-0 win over Romeo Grbavac in his opener by knocking Schindler out by the identical margin.

The Englishman produced a 91.05 common and capitalised on some woeful ending from Schindler, who solely transformed three of 28 makes an attempt at double, whereas the opposite match of the night noticed Nebrida turned the primary Asian participant to succeed in the third spherical since 2020.

Nebrida produced three ton-plus finishes in his 3-0 victory, the place Smith missed darts to win every of the three units, with the Filipino one in every of 11 gamers to knock out a seeded participant to this point within the second spherical.

Cullen cuts quick media duties after cruising by way of

Within the afternoon session, Joe Cullen stormed out of his post-match press convention after cruising by way of to the third spherical with a straight-sets victory over Dutchman Wessel Nijman.

Cullen had gained simply three of his final 12 matches earlier than this 12 months’s Worlds however produced one in every of his efficiency of the 12 months, firing a 98.18 common to arrange a gathering with former world champion Gerwyn Worth after Christmas.

The Rockstar felt he had been disrespected within the build-up to the event, telling reporters: “I have been proven no respect, so I will not share any respect to any of you guys tonight. I’ll go house.”

Ryan Searle opened proceedings with a formidable 3-0 victory towards Matt Campbell whereas Dirk van Duijvenbode turned the newest seed to make an early exit after Latvian Madars Razma got here from a set down to assert a 3-1 win.

Ian White additionally induced an upset after knocking out present European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse, with a 3-1 win for ‘Diamond’ seeing him progress to play pre-tournament favorite Luke Littler within the third spherical.

“He [Littler] is Runcorn’s No 2 – I am from Runcorn and I am No 1!” White mentioned. “You need to trigger an upset. I am all for it. Luke Littler has performed every thing for this sport in the meanwhile.”

What’s developing on day 9?

The ultimate eight second-round matches happen on Monday, with Jonny Clayton headlining the afternoon session towards Mickey Mansell and former world youth champion Josh Rock up towards Rhys Griffin.

Krzysztof Ratajski face Alexis Toylo within the opening match of the day and former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding opens his event towards Martin Lukeman, whereas Dave Chisnall and former world champion Rob Cross are each concerned within the night session.

Chisnall performs Ricky Evans and Cross takes on Scott Williams, following on from Gian van Veen going up towards Ricardo Pietreczko and Daryl Gurney enjoying Florian Hempel.

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