Michael van Gerwen made a confident start to his bid for a fourth World Darts Championship title.
The Dutchman has had to wait to get his campaign up and running but he did so in comfortable fashion, beating James Hurrell 3-0 on Friday night.
It ensured he did not follow second seed Michael Smith in crashing out, after Kevin Doets edged a five-set thriller against the former world champion.
Smith just about edged past Doets 12 months ago, when defending his world title, but this time it was the Dutchman who held his nerve as the deciding set went to a tenth leg.
Stephen Bunting was in danger of following Smith out the exit door, with Kai Gotthardt having darts to take a two-set lead on Friday. Crowd favourite Bunting battled back, though, to ensure he will be returning after Christmas.
It is Christian Kist who has got the Ally Pally fans going the most this week, as he produced the first nine-darter of the tournament. That perfect leg was still not enough for him to get past Madars Razma.
Ryan Meikle held off a spirited fightback from Fallon Sherrock to set up a second-round clash with last year’s runner-up Luke Littler on Saturday.
Sherrock, who became the first female player to win a match in the tournament back in December 2019, won the first set and fought back from 2-1 down to force a decider at Alexandra Palace, before left-hander Meikle held his nerve to hit double 18 for a 96 finish to seal a hard-fought win.
Peter Wright kicked off his bid for a third world title with victory over Wesley Plaisier, while Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall have also progressed.
Winning start: Defending champion Luke Humphries beat Thibault Tricole 3-0 in his opening match (Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)
World Darts Championship schedule and latest results
(Seeds in brackets, all times GMT)
Sunday, December 15
Evening Session (7pm)
Thibault Tricole 3-1 Joe Comito
Jermaine Wattimena 3-0 Stefan Bellmont
Keane Barry 3-0 Kim Huybrechts
(1) Luke Humphries 3-0 Thibault Tricole
Monday, December 16
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Wesley Plaisier 3-2 Ryusei Azemoto
Luke Woodhouse 3-0 Lourence Ilagan
Alan Soutar 1-3 Kai Gotthardt
Jermaine Wattimena 3-0 James Wade (16)
Evening Session (7pm)
Niels Zonneveld 1-3 Robert Owen
Connor Scutt 3-0 Ben Robb
Cameron Menzies 3-1 Leonard Gates
(10) Gerwyn Price 3-0 Keane Barry
Tuesday, December 17
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
James Hurrell 3-0 Jim Long
Kevin Doets 3-1 Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Ryan Joyce 3-1 Darius Labanauskas
Luke Woodhouse 3-1 Mike De Decker
Evening Session (7pm)
Jeffrey de Graaf 3-1 Rashad Sweeting
Ricardo Pietreczko 3-0 Xiaochen Zong
Ryan Meikle 3-2 Fallon Sherrock
(17) Peter Wright 3-1 Wesley Plaisier
Wednesday, December 18
Evening Session (7pm)
Paolo Nebrida 3-2 Jim Williams
Madars Razma 3-1 Christian Kist
Ricky Evans 3-2 Gordon Mathers
(12) Nathan Aspinall 3-1 Leonard Gates
Thursday, December 19
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Chris Landman 1-3 Lok Yin Lee
Callan Rydz 3-0 Romeo Grbavac
Martin Lukeman 3-1 Nitin Kumar
(27) Gabriel Clemens 1-3 Robert Owen
Evening Session (7pm)
Nick Kenny 3-0 Stowe Buntz
Mensur Suljovic 2-3 Matt Campbell
Scott Williams 3-1 Niko Springer
(2) Michael Smith 2-3 Kevin Doets
Friday, December 20
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Alexander Merkx 3-0 vs Stephen Burton
Wessel Nijman 3-2 Cameron Carolissen
Ian White bt Sandro Eric Sosing (walkover)
(8) Stephen Bunting 3-1 Kai Gotthardt
Evening Session (7pm)
Mickey Mansell 3-1 Tomoya Goto
Florian Hempel 3-1 Jeffrey De Zwaan
William O’Connor 1-3 Dylan Slevin
(3) Michael van Gerwen 3-0 James Hurrell
Saturday, December 21
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Karel Sedlacek 0-3 Rhys Griffin
Richard Veenstra 0-3 Alexis Toylo
(30) Brendan Dolan 3-0 Lok Yin Lee
(15) Chris Dobey 3-1 Alexander Merkx
Evening Session (7pm)
(13) Danny Noppert 1-3 Ryan Joyce
(32) Raymond van Barneveld 1-3 Nick Kenny
(4) Luke Littler 3-1 Ryan Meikle
(9) Damon Heta 3-1 Connor Scutt
Sunday, December 22
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
(20) Ryan Searle v Matt Campbell
(25) Dirk van Duijvenbode v Madars Razma
(23) Joe Cullen v Wessel Nijman
(29) Ritchie Edhouse v Ian White
Evening Session (7pm)
(22) Martin Schindler v Callan Rydz
(19) Ross Smith v Paolo Nebrida
(14) Gary Anderson v Jeffrey de Graaf
(11) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Dylan Slevin
Monday, December 23
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
(31) Krzysztof Ratajski v Alexis Toylo
(21) Andrew Gilding v Martin Lukeman
(18) Josh Rock v Rhys Griffin
(7) Jonny Clayton v Mickey Mansell
Evening Session (7pm)
(28) Gian van Veen v Ricardo Pietreczko
(26) Daryl Gurney v Florian Hempel
(5) Rob Cross v Scott Williams
(6) Dave Chisnall v Ricky Evans
Friday, December 27
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Third Round (x3)
Evening Session (7pm)
Third Round (x3)
Saturday, December 28
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Third Round (x3)
Evening Session (7pm)
Third Round (x3)
Sunday, December 29
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Third Round (x3)
Evening Session (7pm)
Third Round (x1), Fourth Round (x2)
Monday, December 30
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Fourth Round (x3)
Evening Session (7pm)
Fourth Round (x3)
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Afternoon Session (12.30pm)
Quarter-finals (x2)
Evening Session (7pm)
Quarter-finals (x2)
Thursday, January 2 (7.30pm)
Semi-Finals (x2)
Friday, January 3 (8pm)
Final
How can I watch the World Darts Championship?
TV channel: The tournament will be covered live in full on Sky Sports. Both the afternoon and evening sessions will be shown on Sky Sports Darts, with many sessions also on Sky Sports Main Event.
Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers will be able to watch the game through the Sky Go app.
World Darts Championship latest odds
Luke Littler 15/8
Luke Humphries 11/4
Gary Anderson 8/1
Michael van Gerwen 10/1
Gerwyn Price 20/1
Wessel Nijman 25/1
28/1 bar
Odds via Betfair. Subject to change
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