Adrian Lewis and Mervyn King in World Championship action
Action underway on Sky Sports Darts from 7pm
Monday 19 December 2016 22:36, UK
Two-time champion Adrian Lewis will become the latest contender to begin his William Hill World Darts Championship bid on Monday night.
The 2011 and 2012 champion is seeded fifth at Alexandra Palace and will hope to follow the example of the top four in making short work of his first-round match when he takes on experienced Swede Magnus Caris.
World No 1 Michael van Gerwen, defending champion Gary Anderson, 16-time champion Phil Taylor and third seed Peter Wright have all progressed without dropping a set but Jackpot faces arguably the toughest test of the quintet at the top of the rankings.
Lewis hasn't enjoyed the best of seasons with just a couple of semi-finals at the Matchplay and in the Premier League to show for his undoubted quality, but he comes alive on the Ally Pally stage and has endured similarly poor seasons before impressive showings at the Worlds.
He has reached at least the quarter-finals in five of the last six years including his back-to-back titles and a runners-up finish at the hands of Anderson at last year's tournament.
Caris has been on the PDC circuit since 2009 and is a former BDO semi-finalist but while the 48-year-old will not be fazed facing Lewis, he has never gone beyond the first round since switching codes.
Also in action on Monday night is 2009 semi-finalist Mervyn King. He faces the dangerous Steve West with many tipping West to cause a shock in the opening round.
Sky Sports experts John Part and Wayne Mardle both earmarked West as a dangerous unseeded opponent and it is King who will have to overcome the man from Waltham Abbey and a poor record at the World Championship since his semi-final.
King lost out to Taylor in the last four in 2009 but since then has not gone beyond the third round in seven attempts, while West is riding a second half of the season that included a first-round win over Phil Taylor at the World Grand Prix and throw for the match against Van Gerwen in a Players Championship event final.
Live World Darts Championship
The third first-round match will see Joe Cullen take on the winner of the opening match of the night, the preliminary round contest between Qiang Sun and world youth champion Corey Cadby.
Aussie Cadby will be the favourite to come through having put a win against Taylor on his CV in Perth earlier this year and that will represent a tough test for Cullen, who has yet to progress beyond the first round in six attempts.
However, Cullen has enjoyed a decent season and has risen to number 28 in the world rankings.
Monday's Matches (starts 7pm) - (P) denotes preliminary round
Qiang Sun v Corey Cadby (P)
Mervyn King (22) v Steve West
Adrian Lewis (5) v Magnus Caris
Joe Cullen (28) v Sun/Cadby
You can see all the action from day five from the Alexandra Palace from 7pm on Sky Sports Darts HD. Don't forget, you can send us your comments and predictions throughout this year's tournament by tweeting us @SkySportsDarts ... #LoveTheDarts
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