Former champions Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson booked their third-round spots at the World Darts Championship, as sixth seed Danny Noppert crashed out in a final-leg epic at the Alexandra Palace.

Van Gerwen was a shadow of his best in his tournament opener against Mitsuhiko Tatsunami but showed a vast improvement against William O’Connor, posting a 100.20 average in a 3-1 win over the Irishman at the Alexandra Palace.

The former world No 1 won his first two sets and responded to O’Connor winning the third by starting the next with back-to-back ton-plus finishes, then closed out victory to set up a third-round meeting against German debutant Arno Merk.

Fellow Dutchman Noppert became the highest-ranked player to be knocked out of this year’s event, suffering a second-round exit – for the third consecutive year – after being edged out by England’s Justin Hood in a sudden-death leg.

Anderson recovered from a set down to claim a 3-1 victory over Connor Scutt, with Josh Rock facing Australia’s Joe Comito in the last match of a dramatic session – the last before the Christmas break.

More to follow…

What’s next?

There are three days off for the World Darts Championship over the Christmas period before the tournament resumes on this weekend on Saturday with a double session at 12.30pm and 7pm to kick off the third round.

The third-round schedule will be confirmed on Wednesday.

Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live until January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407). Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.