Darts results: Rob Cross defeats Raymond van Barneveld at the PDC World Darts Championship

Rob Cross defied a lightning start from Raymond van Barneveld to win the battle of the former champions amidst an electric atmosphere at the Alexandra Palace.

The Dutch legend sent the Barney Army into hysteria like the good old days when he nailed a 170 checkout straight after a Voltage 180 in the second leg of the opening set, which he won 3-1 to take early control.

Cross was averaging just 77 at that point as he struggled to find his rhythm and later admitted it was partly down to the incredible noise that he'd not experienced since before the pandemic.

However, the 2018 champion took out finishes of 128 and 93 to win the next 3-1 before edging a nervy decider in the fourth when Barney couldn't take advantage of his four missed set darts.

That seemed to knock the stuffing out of van Barneveld and it wasn't too much longer before he was knocked out of the tournament as Cross cruised through the fourth set 3-0 - but having averaged just 90.38, he'll need to up his game after Christmas. The Hastings man missed 16 of his 26 darts at doubles but Barney was even more wasteful, missing 22 of his 28.

“I had a great second set and I think that made Raymond sort of fade in the game,” said the European champion, who will take on Daryl Gurney in round three.

“Fair play to him. He is a legend and he played like the champion he is in that first set but once I got my bearings, I found the game to beat him.

“I’ve worked hard over the last couple of years and now I am back. I feel like there is something around the corner. I can go on to do great things. Daryl is another brilliant player who never really goes away and it should be a great game.”

Chris Dobey bounced back from a two-set deficit against young Austrian star Rusty-Jake Rodriguez to set up a third round meeting with Michael van Gerwen.

Rodriguez, who turns 21 on Christmas Eve, won each of the first two sets in deciding legs after Dobey had missed darts to win both, but the Bedlington ace raised his game to race through the next three for the loss of just one leg in each.

Earlier in the night, Danny Noppert booked his place in round three but it was far from impressive as he came from a set down to scrap past Jason Heaver.

The Dutchman missed six darts at a double as he lost the opener 3-1 but he picked up his game enough to win the next three sets for the loss of just two legs.

Noppert averaged just 88.42 and missed 26 of his 36 darts at doubles so he'll need to significantly improve on those levels to go much further in the tournament.

Gabriel Clemens didn't need to sparkle either as he averaged just 86.29 in a 3-0 victory over a nervy Lewy Williams, who missed 16 of his 19 darts at doubles.

AFTERNOON SESSION

Alan Soutar produced the comeback of the PDC World Darts Championship so far as he came back from 2-0 down in sets and 2-0 down in the third before eventually winning a marathon contest 6-4 in an absorbing decider.

The Scottish fireman also survived eight match darts from the 26th seed - four of which coming in leg eight of the final set at 4-3 down after he'd missed two of his own when leading 3-2 - while Suljovic also missed another at tops to send the game into a sudden-death leg.

Soutar, who averaged 90.92 and fired in four of the six 180s, then made the Austrian pay for leaving the door ajar in emphatic fashion as he barged in and put out an astounding 144 checkout to claim the biggest win of his part-time career so far and he'll next meet Jose de Sousa after the Christmas break.

Suljovic lost the opening leg but won the next eight thanks to his clinical finishing and his opponent's wasteful doubling as he moved to the brink of a very swift victory but then spurned his first two match darts when leading 2-1 in the third. Another came and went in the deciding leg and Soutar pinned double eight with his last dart in hand to stay alive.

The Gentle's fourth match dart came at tops when attempting a 120 checkout at 2-1 in the fourth set but he missed that too and Soutar took it to a deciding leg, which he won with a 66 finish.

The Scotsman finally got ahead for the first time since the opening leg when he moved 3-2 up in the fifth set but when needing to triumph by two clear legs, he then missed two attempts at tops and it was his opponent's turn to save his skin.

Suljovic broke to go 4-3 up and then looked like he was racing away with the sixth leg but he spurned four more match darts and Soutar held his nerve to pin double 18 with his last dart in hand before taking the next two in dramatic fashion.

“I can’t even describe that match,” said Soutar. "In my head I was dead and buried and something just clicked. I was just trying to win another leg. You don’t give up in that position but you kind of just relax and the scores start coming. That’s exactly what happened.”

Jose de Sousa also had to come from two sets down to prevent Jason Lowe causing a notable shock.

The underdog from England got off to a flying start as he took out finishes of 125 and 118 en route to edging the opening set 3-2 while he pinched the second on a deciding leg before De Sousa began his comeback.

The former Grand Slam champion only dropped two legs in the next three sets as he found another gear, completing the victory with a 124 checkout and enduing up with a 96.15 average and seven 180s.

"Jason Lowe made me work a lot so I’m happy to be through to the next round," said De Sousa. "I just kept thinking to myself that I’m better than this and to focus on my game. It’s very difficult to come from two sets down to win. I managed to find my game towards the end and I’m really happy to get the victory."

Earlier in the afternoon session, Australia's Damon Heta breezed into round three with a 3-1 victory over Luke Woodhouse and it would have been a whitewash had he not spurned match darts in the third set. He will play Peter Wright after Christmas.

Callan Rydz then stormed through what was expected to be a tight clash with Brendan Dolan 3-0 for the loss of just three legs and an average of 102.73 although his opponent did miss an attempt at bullseye when leading 2-1 in the third set to make it closer.

“That’s the best I’ve played in a televised tournament,” said Rydz, who posted a doubles success rate of 64.3 percent. "If you are going to play well, this is the time to do it. I’ve had a good year on the ProTour but it’s different on the stage and I’m so happy to play well.

"My finishing was pretty good and hopefully everything is clicking so I can have a deep run at this tournament."

World Darts: Thursday results

Thursday December 23
Afternoon Session (12.30pm GMT)
Second Round (Best of 5 sets)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts

• Damon Heta (94.65) 3-1 (91.15) Luke Woodhouse
  (Set scores: 3-2, 3-1, 2-3, 3-0)
• Brendan Dolan (100.02) 0-3 (102.73) Callan Rydz
  (Set scores: 1-3, 0-3, 2-3)
• Mensur Suljovic (88.34) 2-3 (90.92) Alan Soutar
  (Set scores: 3-1, 3-0, 2-3, 2-3, 4-6)
• Jose de Sousa (96.15) 3-2 (95.01) Jason Lowe
  (Set scores: 2-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-1, 3-0)

Evening Session (7pm GMT)
Second Round (Best of 5 sets)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts

• Danny Noppert (88.42) 3-1 (85.19) Jason Heaver
  (Set scores: 1-3, 3-1, 3-0, 3-1)
• Gabriel Clemens (86.29) 3-0 (75.12) Lewy Williams
  (Set scores: 1-3, 3-1, 3-0, 3-1)
• Rob Cross (90.38) 3-1 (92.45) Raymond van Barneveld
  (Set scores: 1-3, 3-1, 3-2, 3-0)
• Chris Dobey (92.68) 3-2 (90.45) Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
  (Set scores: 2-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-1, 3-1)

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TOURNAMENT DRAW, RESULTS, SCHEDULE AND AVERAGES

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