World Darts Championship: Gary Anderson crushed by Jeffrey De Graaf on night time of shock exits at Alexandra Palace | Darts Information

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 in opposition to 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 in opposition to De Graaf.

De Graaf breezed via 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 had 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 aspect of the draw to final 12 months’s finalist, however did not dwell 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 shocking 121 end and 12-darter from Anderson to wrap up the opening set on D9.

The Swede instantly broke with a 13-darter at first 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 powerful victory.

“It is great,” De Graaf instructed Sky Sports activities. “Gary didn’t show up as he usually does but I am very happy 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 blissful that I obtained via in the long run. I’m blissful to be right here and let’s maintain 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 last leg of the second, earlier than discovering a 13-dart maintain in one other last-leg decider to finish a powerful begin.

Rydz – the participant with the very best first-round common – claimed his successive straight-sets win of the match, 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 grew to become 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 among 11 gamers to knock out a seeded participant thus far within the second spherical.

Cullen cuts brief media duties after cruising via

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

Cullen had received simply three of his final 12 matches earlier than this 12 months’s Worlds however produced one among 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 match, telling reporters: “I’ve been shown no respect, so I won’t share any respect to any of you guys tonight. I’m going to go home.”

Ryan Searle opened proceedings with a powerful 3-0 victory in opposition to Matt Campbell whereas Dirk van Duijvenbode grew to become the most recent 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 prompted 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’m from Runcorn and I’m No 1!” White mentioned. “You want to cause an upset. I’m all for it. Luke Littler has done everything for this sport at the moment.”

What’s developing on day 9?

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

Krzysztof Ratajski face Alexis Toylo within the opening match of the day and former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding opens his match in opposition to 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 in opposition to Ricardo Pietreczko and Daryl Gurney taking part in Florian Hempel.

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