The English co-favorite Rob Cross ultimately confidently reached the round of 16 at the Darts World Cup in London.
The 2018 world champion won 4-2 sets against the rebellious Swede Jeffrey de Graaf on Wednesday.
Cross, ranked eighth in the world rankings, will now face Welsh Jonny Clayton, number nine on the seed list, or Krzysztof Ratajski (No. 24) from Poland in the round of 16 on Friday.
Over the course of the game, Cross repeatedly countered the strong moments of Dutch-born de Graaf. In the sixth set, “Voltage” got the break he needed and then made no mistakes on his own throw. Overall, he averaged 101.32 points.
The Germans Martin Schindler (3:4 against Scott Williams) and Gabriel Clemens (1:4 against Dave Chisnall) had already been eliminated in the lunch session.
In the evening, fans get to see some delicacies in “Ally Pally”. The start at 8:10 p.m. will be 16-year-old shooting star Luke Littler against Canadian Matt Campbell.
This is followed by the appearance of three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen against his Dutch compatriot Richard Veenstra.
And finally, the reigning title holder Michael Smith meets the Latvian Madars Razma.