Tony O'Shea booked his place in the second round of the Grand Slam of Darts with a thumping 5-1 win over James Wade on Sunday.
Thornton also victorious as Whitlock crashes out
Tony O'Shea booked his place in the second round of the Grand Slam of Darts with a thumping 5-1 win over James Wade on Sunday evening.
O'Shea, a quarter-finalist in last year's tournament, followed up his opening victory over Vincent van der Voort with another impressive display, while PDC world number two Wade must now beat the Dutchman in his last match to progress.
Robert Thornton also went through as he produced his finest televised performance for 18 months with a 5-2 win over Dave Chisnall, who took out finishes of 118 and 116 for his two legs but could not match the Scot's heavy scoring.
Thornton's triumph meant Australian Simon Whitlock was eliminated after he followed up his opening day defeat to Chisnall with a 5-4 loss to resurgent Colin Osborne.
Mervyn King put one foot into the second round courtesy of his 5-3 win over Terry Jenkins, maintaining his unbeaten record in the process, with John Henderson seeing off Stacy Bromberg 5-2 in the other Group C contest.
Gary Anderson also remains undefeated in Group B after two games.
The Scot defeated home favourite Wayne Jones 5-2 despite some problems finding his doubles early on, while Mark Webster's hopes remain alive after his 5-3 success over Mark Hylton.
Monday's play sees Groups E-H play their second matches, including the eagerly-awaited showdown between Stoke-born duo Phil Taylor and Ted Hankey, Raymond van Barneveld up against Colin Lloyd and Paul Nicholson facing Ronnie Baxter.
