Luke Littler made a winning start to his bid for a maiden world darts title after coming through a tough test against Ryan Meikle at Alexandra Palace.
Last year's runners-up recovered from a slow start to dominate the closing stages of the competition, wrapping up a 3-1 victory to set up a third-round meeting with either Ritchie Edhouse or Ian White after Christmas.
Littler needed a top finish to take the first set in the final game but saw Meikle level the contest with a win in the second and the 17-year-old responded with a break in the third to close out the set and edge in front.
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Littler's 100 checkout saw him in the first set against Meikle
The reigning Premier League champion then showed his brilliant best in a one-sided fourth set, opening 11 darts before firing eight perfect darts en route to breaking Meikle in the next game.
He missed D12 by nine darts but wrapped up victory with another 11 darts in the next, and Littler was visibly emotional after firing an incredible 140.91 – the highest ever average in World Darts history – where he only needed 32 arrows to win all three games.
How Littler survived the fear of Ally Pally
Littler received a big welcome from Alexandra Palace but struggled in the opening game, allowing Meikle to hold on despite missing five darts at the double, with the pair exchanging 13 darts during a tight start.
Meikle squandered two set darts to allow Littler to fight back, then fired five perfect darts en route to the decider, taking 100 checkout with a finish, although the unseeded player bounced back by winning the first two games of the second match.
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Littler took to the stage for the first time at this year's World Darts Championship
The fourth seed produced a 15-dart hold before Meikle closed out the set, with both players trading breaks at the start of the third before Littler took complete control of the contest winning the next two to take a 2-1 lead.
Meikle's hopes were quickly dashed when Littler opened with back-to-back 180s on his way to 11 darts, and 'The Nuke' came agonizingly close to Christian Kist's effort from earlier in the week to fire his second nine-dart. tournament.
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Littler produced some incredible darts as he defeated Meikle 3-1 to advance to the third round
Littler took D6 by 10 darts before signing off in emphatic style at the next stage, completing a win he admitted in his post-match press conference was “one of the toughest” he had played in his young career.
“That's probably the first and biggest time (the pressure) got to me,” Littler he told Sky Sports. “The Premier League, the first night against Luke Humphries, I was nervous then, but throughout the year – all the European tours, all the majors I've played – I've been fine.
“Getting here, getting to it, all right. As soon as George Noble said 'play on,' I was like – I couldn't throw them.”
Littler added: “(The pressure) was a lot to handle, but like I said, I was leading well. As soon as George said 'game on', I just couldn't do it. The first set, I shouldn't have won but I did, then after that other breaks you have to crawl across the border.
Van Barneveld suffers from shock as the seed falls
Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld was knocked out after struggling throughout a 3-1 defeat by Nick Kennyas compatriot Danny Noppert also suffered an early exit by the same margin against Ryan Joyce.
Van Barneveld twice saw his walk song interrupted as he made his way to the stage, with the Dutchman broken in the first leg to lose a slow first set despite Kenny losing seven set darts at doubles.
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Raymond van Barneveld has seen his famous 'Eye of the Tiger' entrance spoiled by yet another song!
The Welshman won the next two matches to put extra pressure on Van Barneveld, who hit back by firing 15 and 13 before losing the decider in the final leg to go down in two sets and silence the Alexandra Palace crowd.
Van Barneveld came back to win the third set and survived two darts to take the fourth to a decider, where Kenny missed six more looks at doubles before closing out a doubles win to set up a date with Luke Humphries after Christmas.
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Nick Kenny defeated Van Barneveld to advance to the third round of the World Darts Championship
Noppert looked to be in control of his opener when closing in on a two-set cushion, only for Joyce to level the match with 15 darts and then follow up a 124 checkout in the third set with a 12-dart leg to move 2-1 ahead.
A close contest was approaching the decider when Noppert took a two-leg lead in the fourth set, but Joyce held on in the next to seal a famous victory with straight 13 darts.
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Ryan Joyce took 124 to advance in the third set against Danny Noppert
The final match of the night also brought more drama, with Damon Hett coming back from a set down to score four ton-plus finishes and threaten a perfect finish on his way to a 3-1 victory over Connor Scutt.
Heta found eight perfect darts before missing D12 by nine darts, just like Littler earlier in the evening, and the Aussie then wasted another five match darts on the same number before eventually finding the required double dart.
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Damon Heta scored four plus tons in his comfortable win over Connor Scutt in the second round
Dobey and Dolan book their spots in the next round
The afternoon session saw Brendan Dolan set up a huge third-round clash with Michael van Gerwen after a straight-sets win over Lok Yin Lee, while world no.15 Chris Dobey he withstood a fightback from Alexander Merkx to secure a 3-1 win and also reach the last 32.
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Chris Dobey hit this target of 122 during his second round match against Alexander Merkx at the World Darts Championship
Dolan fired a 106 finish to take a tight opening set in the final and cruise through the second, and the Northern Irishman fired 13 and 14 during the third set – where he averaged 113 – to extend his 17th straight World Series appearance championship.
Dobey took control of his contest by winning six of the first seven legs en route to a two-set lead, only to see Merkx take a clean sweep in the third set to break the Englishman in the opening set of the fourth.
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Dobey said his 122 strikeouts were big
Merkx's run was ended by a sensational 122 checkout by Dobey, who held the roll in the next game before wrapping up another impressive win by firing back-to-back 180s on his way to 12 darts.
The debutant was in the first match of the day Rhys Griffin beat Karel Sedlacek in straight sets and set up a second-round meeting with Josh Rock, while Alexis Toylo also pulled off a big win on debut and will now take on Krzysztof Ratajski after a shock 3-0 success over Richard Veenstra.
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Alexis Toylo enjoyed a first-round win at the World Darts Championships, but his pre-darts routine had everyone talking
What's next?
There are eight second round matches on Sunday, with defending European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse leading the afternoon session against Ian White and Joe Cullen against Wessel Nijman.
Ryan Searle takes on Matt Campbell in the opening match of the day and Dirk van Duijvenbode takes on Madars Razma, before former world champion Gary Anderson begins his tournament in the evening session against Jeffrey de Graaf.
UK Open winner Dimitri Van den Bergh takes on Dylan Slevin in the evening session, which starts at 7pm, while Martin Schindler takes on Callan Rydz and Ross Smith entertains Paolo Nebrida.
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 other top sports with SADA.