Defending champion Rob Cross went down to debutant Gabriel Clemens. Cross became the first champion since Colin Llyod to crash out in the first round. Clemens who is currently No. 40 in the world came out on top and book his place in the quarter-finals. Peter Wright was facing a similar scenario. He was 5-8 down but then removed his glasses which turned out to be a blessing with Wright taking 5 sets in a row to book his place in the quarter-finals.
Clemens was leading the match 3-2 albeit a lowly average of 75 but “VoltAge: found his spark with 3 crucial checkouts to take a 6-5 cushion. Going into the last round, Cross was afforded a chance back but missed 3 darts at the usually trusty double 18 to crash out of the competition. Wright will next face Glen Durrant in the quarter-finals as he had a relatively simpler match-winning 10-3 against Jeffrey De Swan. Durrant averaged more than 100 and registered maximum on r occasions.
He will face good friend Wright in the quarter-finals who overcame Jose De Souza in a cliffhanger. The Portuguese have been in superb form leading him up the rankings. De Souza shot a 161 to move into a 5-2 lead after breaking early in the match. With the match nearing the end, De Souza showed the first sign of nerves and Wright took full advantage. A pivotal 144 took him within 1 of the Portuguese cutting the lead to 8-7 in the 15th leg. Then at 8-8, De Sousa looked poised to go within one of the matches and a huge shock, but waiting on 38, Snakebite piled in a fifth 180 of the contest to heap the pressure on his opponent. De Sousa buckled, missing three darts for the lead and he was punished when Wright pinned double 16 to lead for the first time since the opening leg and then sealed a remarkable 10-8 victory.
