Phil Taylor averaged just short of a 100 as he moved into the second round of the Ladbrokes World Championship.
World number one through in straight sets
Phil Taylor averaged just short of a 100 as he moved into the second round of the Ladbrokes World Championship with a 3-0 victory over Japanese qualifier Haruki Muramatsu.
The 15-time champion made a pretty sluggish start but moved ominously through the gears and despite his performane appearing somewhat low-key his final average was the highest in the tournament so far.
Taylor now has Christmas off and returns to the fray on December 27 with a second-round match against either Mark Dudbridge or Dave Chisnall.
'The Power' told
Sky Sports 1 after the game: "It was hard work for me...I think he'd have frightened any pro tonight."
Impressive
Wes Newton produced an impressive display to show he will be hard to ignore.
The world number five has enjoyed a fine year and he proved too good for Kurt van de Rijck, winning in three straight sets at the Alexandra Palace.
Van de Rijck put up a strong fight - his average of 93.84 was actually slightly higher - while he also hit a 136 checkout in the second set.
However, Newton, the UK Open runner-up earlier in the season, just had that bit too much nous for his Belgian foe.
Newton next face Justin Pipe, who overcame a poor start to see off Sean Reed 3-1 in the night's opening encounter.
Tough
In what was a scrappy encounter, Australian Reed took the opening set 3-0 but Pipe soon hit back to avoid an upset.
The crucial period was in the third set when Pipe came from 2-1 down in legs to win it.
Co Stompe saw off Michael Smith, also by a 3-0 scoreline.
Youngster Smith hit a nine-dart leg in a youth tournament recently but he found the step up to the big stage too tough.
Stompe started with a 180 in the very first leg but it was his better finishing, not his general scoring, which proved the difference. He had a 43 per cent checkout statistic, but Smith hit just three of 14 of his darts at a double.
