Two-time world champion Gary Anderson was eliminated from the World Darts Championship after a surprise second-round defeat to Jeffrey de Graaf at Alexandra Palace.
Anderson struggled during a one-sided battle against his unseeded opponent, winning just two legs and converting just three of 20 double attempts en route to a straight sets defeat to De Graaf.
De Graaf mastered the first two sets with flying colors and defeated Anderson again in the next. In doing so, he secured a famous victory and secured a third-round meeting with Paolo Nebrida after Christmas.
Anderson became the latest high-profile player to be eliminated from the World Darts Championship
Anderson’s unforgettable birthday marked the first time in 16 World Cup appearances that he lost his opening game, on a night that also saw fellow seeds Ross Smith and Martin Schindler eliminated.
How Anderson suffered from early elimination
Anderson was one of the names expected to challenge favorites Luke Humphries and Luke Littler for the Sid Waddell Trophy. He found himself on the other side of the draw from last year’s finalist but failed to live up to pre-tournament expectations.
De Graaf opened with an 11-darter and fired a Shanghai finish for a second consecutive tone-plus checkout to break, then responded to a stunning 121 finish and a 12-darter from Anderson to end the first set on D9.
De Graaf is in the third round for the second time in a row
The Swede immediately broke off with a 13-darter at the start of the second round and took advantage of six missed darts by the “Flying Scotsman” on doubles in the next round to hold the throw, with Anderson allowing De Graaf to close the set with a more idiosyncratic finishing in the following stage.
A visibly frustrated Anderson ended a run of seven consecutive leg losses with a brilliant 11-darter, with the Scot taking the third set into a decider after responding to De Graaf’s win in the third leg with a 14-darter of his own had.
Anderson had to break the DeGraaf throw in a crucial final leg to extend the fight but could only watch as De Graaf scored a 76 finish on D18 to complete an impressive victory.
“It’s great,” De Graaf said Sky Sports. “Gary didn’t show up like usual but I’m really happy with the win.”
“After the first set I got very nervous and when I was 2-0 up I thought, ‘What’s going on now?’ I’m glad I got through in the end. I’m glad to be here and let’s move on.
Sowing takes place on Shock Sunday at Ally Pally
Dimitri Van den Bergh avoided a clean sweep of seeds by sweeping aside Ireland’s Dylan Slevin in straight sets, giving the No. 11 seed a third-round showdown Callan Rydz.
The Belgian, who scored six maximums and an average of 96, hit a 117 checkout to take the first set, then defeated Slevin in the final leg of the second set before hitting a 13-darter and one in another decisive final leg rounded off an impressive start.
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The famous Ally Pally Wasp returns during Dimitri Van den Bergh’s match with Dylan Slevin
Rydz – the player with the highest first-round average – picked up his back-to-back straight-sets win of the tournament after beating Romeo Grbavac 3-0 in the opening game and knocking Schindler out of the tournament by the same margin.
The Englishman averaged 91.05 and benefited from miserable finishing from Schindler, who converted just three of 28 double attempts, while in the evening’s other game Nebrida became the first Asian player to reach the third round since 2020.
Nebrida produced three stunning finishes in his 3-0 win, with Smith missing darts to win each of the three sets, with the Filipino one of 11 players to knock out a seeded player so far in the second round.
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Ally Pally annoyance alert! Paolo Nebrida scored three big checkouts in defeating Ross Smith
Cullen stops his media duties after driving through
In the afternoon session Joe Cullen stormed out of his post-match press conference after advancing to the third round with a straight sets victory over Dutchman Wessel Nijman.
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Joe Cullen says the media showed him “no respect” after Wessel Nijman was named favorite in their World Darts Championship clash
Cullen had won just three of his last 12 matches before this year’s World Championships, but produced one of his best performances of the year, averaging 98.18 to set up a meeting with former world champion Gerwyn Price after Christmas.
The rock star felt disrespected in the lead-up to the tournament, telling reporters: “I haven’t been shown any respect, so I won’t show any respect to any of you tonight. “I’m going home.”
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Cullen gives a quick interview to Sky Sports Darts after recording a dominant win over Nijman
Ryan Searle Opened the game with an impressive 3-0 win over Matt Campbell, while Dirk van Duijvenbode became the latest seed after Latvian to exit early Madar Razma came from a set down to a 3-1 win.
Ian White The victory over reigning European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse also caused excitement. With a 3-1 win for “Diamond” “Diamond” prevailed in the third round against pre-tournament favorite Luke Littler.
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Ian White says he is ready to upset ‘Runcorn’s No.2’ Luke Littler in round three
“He (Littler) is Runcorn’s number 2 – I’m from Runcorn and I’m number 1!” said White. “They want to cause a stir. I’m all for it. Luke Littler has done everything for this sport at the moment.”
What’s coming up on the ninth day?
The final eight games of the second round take place on Monday, with Jonny Clayton taking on Mickey Mansell in the afternoon and former world youth champion Josh Rock taking on Rhys Griffin.
Krzysztof Ratajski faces Alexis Toylo in the opening match of the day and former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding opens his tournament against Martin Lukeman, while Dave Chisnall and former world champion Rob Cross are both involved in the evening session.
Chisnall plays Ricky Evans and Cross takes on Scott Williams, followed by Gian van Veen against Ricardo Pietreczko and Daryl Gurney against Florian Hempel.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every game exclusively live on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel until January 3rd. Stream darts and more top sports with NOW.
