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The two-time winner Gary Anderson endured a 54th birthday to forget as he crashed out of the PDC World Darts Championship following a shock second-round defeat by Jeffrey de Graaf.
The Scot, champion in 2015 and 2016, hit just three of his 20 checkout attempts as he was whitewashed 3-0 to fall in his opening match of the tournament for the first time. Anderson was the highest profile casualty on a day of upsets at Alexandra Palace in London following exits for fellow seeded players Ross Smith, Martin Schindler, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Ritchie Edhouse.
The 14th seed came into the competition with the year’s highest overall three-dart average of 99.66. Underdog De Graaf, who had a 75% checkout success and began with an 11-dart finish, said: “It’s great. Gary didn’t really show up as he usually does but I am very happy with the win.
“I was very nervous after the first set and even when I was 2-0 up I was thinking to myself, ‘what’s going on now?’ You could see that maybe with a few darts as well, when I missed. It was just the nerves getting in but I’m happy that I got it through in the end.”
Earlier, Joe Cullen stormed out of his post-match press conference after accusing the media of a lack of respect following a 3-0 win over Wessel Nijman.
The 2022 Masters champion, who will face 2021 winner Gerwyn Price next, gave short answers during a tetchy on-stage interview. Cullen then vented his frustration at reporters backstage before departing prematurely.
“I think the way I’ve been treated probably with the media and things like that – I know you guys have no control over the bookies – I’ve been shown no respect, so I won’t be showing any respect to any of you guys tonight,” he said. “I’m going to go home. Cheers.”
Ian White jokingly branded upcoming opponent Luke Littler “Runcorn’s No 2” after battling back to beat Edhouse, the 29th seed. The 54-year-old set up a meeting with Littler thanks to a 3-1 win over the European champion.
White, born in the same Cheshire town as 17-year-old Littler, acknowledged he will need to up his game when he returns to the oche following a three-dart average of 88.86.
Asked if he knew who was waiting for him, White said: “Yeah, Runcorn’s No 2. I’m from Runcorn and I’m No 1! Hopefully it will be a better game than what I played tonight.
“You want to cause an upset, you’re going to be the underdog but I’m all for it. Luke Littler’s done everything for this sport at the moment over the last two years, so bring it on.”
Filipino qualifier Paolo Nebrida secured the biggest win of his career by stunning former European champion and 19th seed Smith 3-0 to set up a meeting with De Graaf, while Van Duijvenbode, the Dutch 25th seed, was defeated 3-1 by Latvian Madars Razma.
The German No 1, Schindler, seeded 22nd, missed double 12 for a nine-darter and a one-set lead before crashing out 3-0 to Callan Rydz and Ryan Searle started with a 10-dart finish en route to a comfortable 3-0 win over Canadian Matt Campbell.