World Darts Championship: Gary Anderson beaten by Jeffrey De Graaf on shock exit night at Alexandra Palace | Darts News

Two-time world champion Gary Anderson has bowed out of the World Darts Championship after a shock second round defeat to Jeffrey De Graaf at Alexandra Palace.

Anderson struggled throughout a one-sided contest against his unseeded opponent, winning just one stage and converting just three out of 20 doubles attempts before posting a straight-set loss to De Graaf.

De Graaf got through the first two sets without losing a leg and broke Anderson again in the next, scoring a famous victory to book a third round meeting with Paolo Nebrida after Christmas.

Anderson’s birthday to forget was the first time he had lost his opening match in 16 appearances at the World Championship, a night where his compatriots Ross Smith and Martin Schindler were also eliminated.

What’s next…

Cullen cuts media duties short after crossing

During the afternoon session, Joe Cullen stormed out of his post-match press conference after advancing to the third round with a straight-sets victory over Dutchman Wessel Nijman.

Cullen had won just three of his last 12 matches heading into this year’s Worlds, but produced one of his best performances of the year, averaging 98.18 to set up a meeting with the former world champion. Gerwyn Price world after Christmas.

The Rockstar felt he had been disrespected in the build-up to the tournament, telling reporters: “I haven’t been shown any respect, so I’m not going to share any respect with any of you tonight. I’m going to go home.”

Ryan Searle opened proceedings with an impressive 3-0 win over Matt Campbell while Dirk van Duijvenbode became the latest seed to exit early after the Latvian. Madars Razma came back from a set down to claim a 3-1 victory.

Ian White also caused an upset after knocking out current European Championship winner Ritchie Edhouse, with a 3-1 win for ‘Diamond’ seeing him progress to face pre-tournament favorite Luke Littler in the third round.

“He (Littler) is number 2 in Runcorn – I’m from Runcorn and I’m number 1!” » said White. “You want to cause a surprise. I completely agree. Luke Littler has done everything for this sport at the moment.”

What happens on the ninth day?

The final eight matches of the second round take place on Monday, with Jonny Clayton headlining the afternoon session against Mickey Mansell and former junior world champion Josh Rock against Rhys Griffin.

Krzysztof Ratajski will face Alexis Toylo in the opening match of the day and former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding will open his tournament against Martin Lukeman, while Dave Chisnall and former world champion Rob Cross will both be involved in the evening session.

Chisnall plays Ricky Evans and Cross takes on Scott Williams, after Gian van Veen taking on Ricardo Pietreczko and Daryl Gurney playing Florian Hempel.

Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live until January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and many other top sports with NOW.