Tuesday 23 July 2019 11:18, UK
The opening round of the World Matchplay came to a close on Monday evening and despite a number of high-profile names crashing out, there's still 12 major champions left standing at the Winter Gardens.
This year's tournament boasted arguably the strongest field of non-seeded players in World Matchplay history, which led to six seeds crashing out at the first hurdle - only once since 2011 have there been more seeded casualties.
Nevertheless, Gerwyn Price was the solitary representative from the world's top 10 to exit the tournament, therefore there's a star-studded list of names set to battle it out for Matchplay glory.
As the dust settles on three captivating days of action, we've picked out the best bits from round one in Blackpool.
Peter Wright's stunning 164 checkout against Vincent van der Voort was the highest of the first round and it was arguably one of the most important.
Van der Voort had just missed out on a 136 finish for a 3-0 lead but this roof-raising checkout inspired Wright to an impressive 10-5 victory over 'The Dutch Destroyer'.
There were a multitude of thrilling tussles across the opening round this year. Gerwyn Price and Stephen Bunting's topsy-turvy affair was matched by Max Hopp's dramatic tie-break win over Dave Chisnall.
However, James Wade and Jeffrey de Zwaan contested a Winter Gardens classic on Sunday night, as the 2007 champion survived five match darts before prevailing in a nerve-shredding sudden-death finale.
Only two seeds suffered first-round exits at last year's World Matchplay and one of those was Michael van Gerwen. However, that figure has been tripled in the space of 12 months.
Despite this, Price was the biggest casualty in round-one. The Grand Slam champion was highly fancied to challenge in Blackpool, but the seventh seed was edged out in a pulsating last-leg decider by former Lakeside champion Bunting.
Wright continued his scintillating form to defeat Van der Voort in his opener, whilst Mervyn King rolled back the years to dump out UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall.
Nevertheless, Glen Durrant flourished on his Blackpool bow, averaging 101.05 and converting 53 per cent of his attempts at double to ease past Adrian Lewis.
If 'Duzza' can produce a repeat performance against Van Gerwen in round two, the World No 1 could be in danger of another early Winter Gardens exit.
Ricky Evans has forged a reputation for being one of the most entertaining players in world darts and his walk-on certainly lived up to that billing.
'Rapid' marked his Blackpool debut by walking out to YMCA and he treated the Winter Gardens crowd to a dance routine upon his arrival!
Follow every dart from every session in Blackpool as the World Matchplay continues through to the final on Sunday, July 28.
