Three of the top six players in world darts crashed out of the World Grand Prix on Monday night with Daryl Gurney and Gerwyn Price falling at the first hurdle.
After all four seeds swept into the second round on the opening night, the big names came crashing back to earth with fancied title contenders Gurney and Price headlining the exits.
Rob Cross and Peter Wright ensured it wasn't clean sweep of early exits for the seeds in the bottom half, coming through the final two matches to reach the last 16.
Third seed Gurney became the first seeded player to crash out of this year's tournament, suffering a shock 2-0 defeat to world no 33 Noppert.
The 2017 champion flew out of the traps with some big scoring and pinpoint early doubling but a wasteful Superchin lost his way.
Leading 2-1, Gurney missed two darts for the opener allow Noppert to level despite a 15-point difference and then seize the initiative.
Two more missed darts for the set from Gurney went begging and Noppert was in unforgiving mood, pouncing for a shock lead which he had little trouble converting into a best televised PDC result.
Noppert powered across the line with three successive legs as Gurney looked increasingly out-of-sorts and the 33-year-old will next face UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall.
The Asp fired in three 180s, averaged more than 92 and hit six of his eight darts at double to sweep into the second round with a hugely impressive 2-0 win over Vincent van der Voort.
The Dutchman, one of the fastest players in the game, couldn't find any rhythm as he missed his starting doubles as well as his first nine finishing darts when he did to get down to a double.
But Aspinall was unfazed, finishing with the highest average of the tournament so far to mark his Dublin debut with a dominant victory.
Chizzy fights back to stun Price in thriller
Price and Chisnall lived up to expectations by serving up a first-round classic that saw Chizzy fight back from set down to seal his place in the last 16.
Grand Slam champion Price defied a blockbusting 103 average from Chizzy to take a first set that went the distance and featured a 128 finish from the Iceman as well as a scintillating 11-darter from Chisnall.
Undaunted 2013 runner-up Chisnall claimed the next three legs to claim the second set in style, retaining an average in the mid-90s to force a deciding set.
The man from St Helens then hit the front by reeling off a fourth successive leg to start the third set, but Price responded with a nerveless 107 finish.
The pair split the next two to force a decider, where Price's doubles started to let him down. The Welshman needed 10 darts to start the leg and by that time Chisnall was down to a finish and a classy 99 wrapped up a place in round two.
He will next face 2014 semi-finalist Stephen Bunting, who put a wretched recent run in the tournament behind him with a 2-0 victory over Jonny Clayton.
Bunting raced through the opening set with Clayton barely able to get out of the starting gate before Clayton eventually stopped the rot with a brilliant 110 check-out before pinning 64 with Bunting waiting on double top for the match.
But having hauled himself into it, the Welshman wasted four darts to force a decider and Bunting mopped up to reach the second round for the second time five years.
Cross and Duzza to face off again
Cross chalked up his first victory at the Grand Prix, seeing off world no 9 Mensur Suljovic with a performance fulls of ups and downs
The World Matchplay champion, beaten by Steve Beaton in the first round in each of his two previous visits to the Citywest, was handed arguably the toughest draw that any of the eight seeds could find, and so it proved.
Voltage motored to an impressive first set but, despite firing in a maximum in all three legs, allowed Suljovic to level in the second.
Cross eventually scrambled over the finish line, reeling off three straight legs after Suljovic's 14-darter threatened to stun the second seed.
Glen Durrant will provide the opposition for Cross, a repeat of their Matchplay semi-final, after Duzza kept his cool to survive a barrage from Krzysztof Ratajski and win the battle of the dangerous debutants.
The pair finished first and second in the list of Pro Tour qualifiers but it was the Polish Eagle who soared first, producing one of the sets of the tournament to average just over 100 and take out finishes of 109 and 103 on his way to an early lead.
Duzza underlined his status as a major contender yet again, hitting back to pin each of his first three darts at a double to claim the second set.
Eventually Durrant prevailed, pinning double 19 for the match after Ratajski had missed two darts at the same target to force a decider.
Snakebite eases into Last 16
2018 runner-up Peter Wright set up a repeat of his second-round clash with Jermaine Wattimena by seeing off Germany's Max Hopp in straightforward fashion in the final match of the evening.
Snakebite wasn't at his best but managed to scramble over the line in the first set, recovering from an early break of throw to find tops and double 16 in successive legs that gave him the initiative back.
Hopp cleaned up 54 to stay in the match but Wright finished off the opening set and made it three legs in succession to move within a leg of victory.
The young German stayed alive with double six but it only delayed the inevitable as Wright, in keeping with a sluggish display, needed six match darts before sealing the win and a reunion with Wattimena who was too consistent for Adrian Lewis.
Jackpot claimed the first set, with little fuss but in a tension-packed second it was the Dutchman who got over the line.
Lewis' classy 81 took him within a leg of the match and a 2-0 win but Wattimena responded after Jackpot missed the chance to start the 108 combination that would have ended things in style. The Dutchman stayed cool to take out 50 to level the contest and went on to win three of the next four legs to match his second-round showing last year.
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