The four-time semi-final of James Wade crashed out of the world weapons Patronage to the first fence 3-0 by Jermaine Wattimena. Wade, the 16th seed, won the first leg of the round two match at Alexandra Palace but lost the next eight in succession as Wattimena turned away in style.
Holland hit a superb finish of 126 to move into one leg of the victory and while Wade kept his double 20 nerve with his shot to stay alive, he missed badly with a left-handed four shot in the second leg of 10.
Wattimena, who reached the final of the European Championship in October, made no such mistake in the double-eight seal of the live fire.
Later, former champion Gerwyn Price eased past Keane Barry 3-0 to book his place in the third round. The Iceman, whose 2021 title win comes behind closed doors at Alexandra Palace, has not reached the last eight of any major tournament this year, but has wasted little time running through the opening set without a leg.
Barry, who had impressed Kim Huybrechts in the first-round win, finally got on the board after the break, but the Welshman continued to find his space – although he eventually needed a double on his way to close out the second. The 22-year-old Barry gave the crowd some cheers when he took 144 to level the third round at 1-1. This, though, is only waiting for the inevitable to finish 10th seed Price 56 to coast through the next round, which takes place after Christmas.
“I probably want to win that match more than any other match in my life,” Price said on Sky Sports. “I wanted to enjoy Christmas, so you can leave soon and get home. It doesn’t matter how good or bad I played, I just wanted to win … and another tournament starts again after Christmas.”
England’s Luke Woodhouse enjoyed a 3-0 victory over Lawrence Ilagan of the Philippines in the first round, although he was fouled in a crucial incident at the checkout. Woodhouse, who won the first seven legs in a row before Ilagan, finally left the mark with a goal of 103, needing 170 to complete the victory and hit for twenty-two consecutive years, but the bull refused to go. The crowd made their feelings known but Woodhouse had the last laugh as he came from 32 on the next day to seal a comfortable victory.
Germany’s Kai Gotthardt overcame a broken arm as he made his tournament debut with a 3-1 win over Scotland’s Alan Soutaris. Gotthardt’s barrel of a single shot in the fourth leg of the first half of the break beat Soutar, but Gotthardt fought back to make it three in a row.
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In the first match of the day, Wesley Plaisier of the Netherlands came from 2-1 down to beat Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto 3-2 and set up a second round meeting with former champion Peter Wright.
In the evening session, Leonard Gates’ old American showed his vintage to defeat Cameron Menzies of Scotland 3-1. Gates, 54, landed a monster 122 checkout, hitting two treble 18s to take his place in the second round with Menzies, partner of Fallon Sherrock, fighting back tears as hope slipped away.
Wales won Robert Owen’s first time on the world championship stage, as he defeated Niels Zonneveld 3-1 in the first round match. Connor Scutt lost one leg as he led past Ben Robb 3-0 with a match average of 101.92 to set up a second round tie against Australia’s No 9 seed Damon Heta.