Josh Rock punishes Nathan Aspinall's missed doubles to reach round four at Ally Pally; Jonny Clayton and Dimitri van den Bergh also through; Tuesday evening's session includes Gerwyn Price vs Raymond van Barneveld, plus Peter Wright vs Kim Huybrechts (7pm, Sky Sports Darts)
Tuesday 27 December 2022 19:03, UK
Rising star Josh Rock's run at the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship continued as he edged Nathan Aspinall 4-3 in an Alexandra Palace epic to reach the last 16.
Rock, who had eased past Jose Justicia and Callan Rydz across the opening two rounds, is viewed as one of the tournament favourites with bookmakers.
The 21-year-old's title hopes remain alive after he punished a raft of missed doubles from 10th seed Aspinall to dump out the two-time semi-finalist and secure a fourth-round clash with Jonny Clayton.
Aspinall only nailed 29 per cent of his doubles (15 of 52) and Northern Irishman Rock pounced, before declaring that he would "bust his bum" to become world champion.
Rock fired in an opening-leg 180, peppered that bed throughout the early skirmishes, and took the deciding leg with a 141 checkout in a first set in which he averaged just shy of 105.
Aspinall was guilty of squandering multiple chances at doubles - tops a real nemesis - and those blemishes continued in the second and third sets but he still managed to win them both to earn a 2-1 lead as he outscored Rock.
Rock rallied in the fourth, though, breaking Aspinall in the opening leg and thumping in the 180s, leaving himself on a nine-darter in the fourth leg after consecutive maximums.
The Northern Irishman missed out on that feat but wrapped up the leg in 11 darts to level the match - Rock averaging 110 in that tremendous set - before winning the fifth on the throw, sinking double five to claim the deciding leg in 18 darts after Aspinall missed double 10.
Aspinall forced a deciding set by breezing through the sixth 3-0 but Rock moved 2-0 to the good in the seventh set as he clinched a checkout of 99 with a stunning tops-tops finish to throw for the match.
The youngster was not given a match dart in that leg as Aspinall, helped by a 178, broke to cut his arrears to 2-1 - only to then fluff double four to make it 2-2, before Rock took out 70 to seal a thrilling victory.
Speaking afterwards, Rock said: "Wow! I was under a lot of pressure and I dealt with it well. I was just trying my best, it was a very tight game and I got there.
"I am going to bust my bum to become world champion. I have kind of woke up, but now I am just happy. There is a lot more to come."
In the final match of the afternoon, Clayton beat Brendan Dolan 4-1 in a match of last-leg deciders.
On all but one occasion it was Clayton who displayed the greater poise to capitalise on some poor finishing from Dolan.
Clayton took a 3-0 lead before Dolan finally chalked up a set by winning the deciding leg with treble 16 followed by double nine.
In the fifth set, Dolan hit back after going 2-0 down but Clayton eventually clinched the match courtesy of a 116 checkout.
Clayton will probably need to produce a far better performance than Tuesday's showing if he is to beat Rock and advance to the last eight.
Elsewhere, Dimitri van den Bergh beat Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski 4-1 in Tuesday afternoon's opening fixture, showing his class after a scrappy first set in which both players had darts to win.
Van den Bergh won the second set 3-0 before Ratajski took the third by the same scoreline, with an impressive set including a 135 checkout in the second leg and an 11-darter in the third.
Ratajski's form dipped in the fourth set and he was unable to pounce on errors from the Belgian, who restored his two-set advantage with an outer-bull, inner-bull combo in the fourth leg.
A deflated Ratajski was then broken in the third leg of the fifth set and Van den Bergh went on to clinch a fourth-round meeting with either fellow Belgian Kim Huybrechts or defending champion Peter Wright.
Jim Williams takes on Gabriel Clemens in the opening contest of the evening before a blockbuster clash between World No 1 Gerwyn Price and five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld is followed by Wright vs Huybrechts.
Watch the action live from 7pm on Sky Sports Darts and from 7.30pm on Sky Sports Main Event.
Watch the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship - live on Sky Sports Darts - all the way through to the final on January 3.
