The former world champion and world No 1 Michael Smith led the high-profile casualties on a day of shocks at the PDC world championship.
Smith lost 3-1 to the Dutchman Niels Zonneveld to join his fellow seeds Chris Dobey, Dave Chisnall and Dirk van Duijvenbode on the Alexandra Palace scrapheap. The 2023 champion missed a dart at double top for the third set, with Zonneveld clinching it with double 10 to move ahead.
Smith then went for a showbiz 170 finish with Zonneveld a long way back, but after he missed, the 27-year-old from Uitgeest hit 180 and a 77 checkout to break for 2-0 in the fourth before completing the job in the next leg.
Zonneveld, who will meet fifth seed Johnny Clayton in round three, told Sky Sports: “It means the world. I dreamed about this as a boy and now it came true. I’ve survived until Christmas and it’s such a good feeling.”
Dobey, the eighth seed, was beaten by an inspired performance from the 55-year-old Andrew Gilding, who averaged 99.01 and hit a 10-dart leg in a 3-1 victory. “How do I feel? Amazing,” said Gilding. “I don’t know what happened. I felt really bad in practice, but that’s usually a good sign.”
Chisnall was dumped out by the German Ricardo Pietreczko despite hitting 11 maximums. The No 21 seed paid the price for double trouble and missed a match dart in the final set when it seemed as though he would complete a remarkable recovery.
Andrew Gilding meets the media after beating Chris Dobey. Photograph: Katie Chan/Action Plus/Shutterstock
James Hurrell claimed one of the biggest wins of his career by upsetting Van Duijvenbode, the 29th seed, 3-2. Hurrell missed two match darts for a final-set whitewash, but he held his nerve to win the next leg and will next meet the fourth seed, Stephen Bunting, who avoided the carnage with a routine 3-0 win over India’s Nitin Kumar.
The crowd favourite Motomu Sakai bowed out, with his conqueror, Andreas Harrysson, admitting he had been worried by the Japanese’s exuberant walk-on. Sakai has become a cult hero this week, with fans warming to his energetic dance moves and his signing autographs en route to the stage.
The 28-year-old qualifier won his opening match against Thibault Tricole 3-0, but went down by the same scoreline to Sweden’s Harrysson as the second-round action got under way.
“I was a bit worried seeing his walk-on,” Harrysson said after following up his first-round win over the 12th seed, Ross Smith. “But I think I managed it quite OK. I think he wasn’t as he was in the first game on the stage. It’s a great feeling. I didn’t play my best, but nor did he. It was a great win.”
Ryan Searle averaged over 98 in an impressive straight-sets win over Brendan Dolan.