Fifth seed and former champion Gerwyn Price was dumped out of the World Darts Championship after a 4-2 defeat to Northern Irishman Brendan Dolan.
Dolan held his nerve to close out the match with his first shot at tops after Price had clawed his way back from two legs down to level in the sixth set.
It was a crushing defeat for Welshman Price, who had been intent on repeating his victory in the behind-closed-doors tournament in 2021.
Dolan, who got through his second-round match via a sudden death leg against his compatriot Mickey Mansell, had served an early warning when he took out the opening set with a 144 checkout.
His crisp finishing proved the difference as he nudged in front again at 2-1 on the bull, and 64 to repel Price’s advances to go 3-2 up and one set from victory.
Dolan looked set to be made to pay for missing a match-dart at bull at 2-0 in the sixth when Price hit back to break his throw, but the 50-year-old form Enniskillen saw it home in style.
Dolan told Sky Sports: “I was thinking we might go to a last leg but thank god it didn’t because I don’t know if I would have held myself together.”
Brendan Dolan celebrated one of the biggest wins of his career— (Getty Images)
Another of the favourites for the title, Luke Humphries came perilously close to joining Price in an early exit but somehow came from 3-1 down to edge past Ricardo Pietreczko 4-3.
Humphries has been cleaning up at the big events this season to become bookies’ favourite to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy at Alexandra Palace but showed little of that form as, after winning the opening set, he watched his German opponent win nine of the next 12 legs to move just a set away from victory.
When the Englishman was then broken at the start of the fifth set, the game looked to be up, especially as he was seemingly badly affected by a vociferous pro-Pietreczko crowd – many of whom travelled over from Germany – constantly whistling and jeering him.
But he dug deep to break straight back, edged the deciding leg in that set to narrow the gap to 3-2 and then won six of the next seven legs to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat before eschewing his normally mild-mannered approach to exuberantly celebrate in front of those who had been supporting his opponent.
Humphries will now face Joe Cullen in the last 16 and if he does go on to lift the title, may well look back at this narrow escape as the turning point in his championship.
Chris Dobey overcame a scare from Ross Smith to win 4-2 in the highlight of the afternoon session.
A back-and-forth contest that saw 27 maximums posted throughout saw Dobey march into a 2-0 lead before being pegged back by Smith.
Another tight set saw Dobey edge ahead and he hit double 16 for the match to set up a meeting with reigning world champion Michael Smith in the last 16.
Stephen Bunting set up a last-16 clash with Michael van Gerwen after a stunning 4-0 win over Florian Hempel.
Bunting, the former BDO champion, nudged the opener 3-2 and from there the momentum was firmly with him as he swept Hempel away with a whitewash, averaging 101.15 throughout.
Another close contest saw Joe Cullen reach the next round with a 4-2 win over Ryan Searle.
