World Darts Championship: How have Michael van Gerwen, Phil Taylor and co fared?
Thursday 24 December 2015 14:21, UK
As we reach the Christmas break of the World Darts Championship, it's time to put down the arrows and replace them with a mince pie.
Although most of the top seeds will be returning for more festivities when the Ally Pally party resumes on Boxing Day, some have been surprisingly sent packing already.
How have the top 10 seeds done so far?
10. Simon Whitlock
The Australian might already be jetting back down under for Crimbo after a shock 3-2 loss to 'Rapid' Ricky Evans in the first-round. Evans, who justifies his nickname with breakneck speed at the oche, was down by two sets and two legs before staging a brilliant recovery. He nailed a 130 checkout at the crucial stage and eventually toppled the 10th seed Whitlock, who missed two darts to win the match.
9. Ian White
Like Whitlock, ninth seed 'Diamond' suffered a shock first round defeat. White was beaten by the unheralded Dimitri Van den Bergh of Belgium. The youngster showed flashy dance moves as he arrived at the oche but his finishing was even better, moving 2-1 up with a 103 checkout. Nicknamed 'The Dream Maker', Van den Bergh withstood a late fightback to cause an upset.
8. Michael Smith
'Bully Boy' nearly ended up being the playground victim but eventually won a thrilling tie-break to overcome Jeffrey de Zwaan. For long periods it seemed certain that Smith would become the latest seed to fall but, with the opening four sets shared then 10 legs of the decider failing to separate the throwers, they headed to a tie-break. Smith won at the final hurdle.
7. James Wade
Perennial contender Wade finally provided a dominant outing for one of the top 10 seeds, as he whitewashed Greek qualifier John Michael 3-0 with ease. Wade is regularly mentioned as one of the best players to have never lifted the Sid Waddell trophy but, after insisting he is finally preparing professionally, got off to the perfect start.
6. Robert Thornton
'The Thorn' became the highest seed to tumble out of the Ally Pally bonanza after failing to deal with the fighting spirit of Alan 'Chuck' Norris. Thornton had won the World Grand Prix final against Michael van Gerwen this year but couldn't adjust to the biggest stage of all as Norris ran out a 3-0 winner.
5. Adrian Lewis
Two-time World Darts Championship winner Lewis demolished Jan Dekker 3-0 to begin his challenge for further glory with a bang. Check out a sizzling 164 finish from 'Jackpot' in the video above.
4. Peter Wright
Pitted against the unranked but dangerous Keegan Brown, 'Snakebite' could probably have counted himself unlucky to have landed the hardest possible draw. But Wright responded positively to the challenge and put Brown back in his place with a one-sided 3-0 rout. He later offered some words of advice to his up-and-coming beaten opponent.
3. Phil Taylor
Using an experimental set of 22 gram arrows, four grams lighter than his usual set, Taylor waltzed into the second round with a 3-0 blitz of Keita Ono. Having already racked up 16 world titles and presumably struggling for shelf space on his mantelpiece, Taylor was always unlikely to be troubled by his Japanese challenger.
2. Gary Anderson
The reigning world champion began the defence of the Sid Waddell trophy with a routine 3-0 win against Andy Boulton which Sky Sports expert Wayne Mardle described as a "million dollar" performance. He whipped in a 180 with his first darts of the match to immediately calm any nerves of returning to Ally Pally as defending champion.
1. Michael van Gerwen
The mighty Dutchman almost became victim of an all-time great shock at the hands of qualifier Rene Eidams. Van Gerwen bizarrely found himself two legs away from an astonishing defeat in his first-round encounter after Eidmans bravely battled back from 2-0 down. Eidmans, within touching distance of the finish line, couldn't complete the job and Van Gerwen won a nervy tie-break.
You can watch the PDC World Darts Championship live on the Sky Sports Darts Channel, with Wednesday's action also televised on Sky Sports 1 HD.
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