Peter Wright scraped through to the second stage of the PDC's Home Tour after topping Group 32 on Monday night.
The world champion could only finish second in the very first group of the tournament, beaten on legs difference, and had to wait a month for a second bite of the cherry.
This time he made no mistake, first beating Adam Hunt 5-2, then edging past Krzysztof Ratajski in a match which went the distance, before losing 5-4 to Justin Pipe when needing only to avoid a 5-0 whitewash.
Ratajski suffered the heartache of back-to-back 5-4 defeats, having began his quest with a 5-0 victory over Pipe, while Hunt's brace of wins wasn't quite enough to pull off the upset having been the group's 14/1 outsider.
Instead it went to form, Wright first averaging 101.27 to beat Hunt before pinning double 17 with his final dart in hand to secure that vital victory over Ratajski, in a match where every leg went with throw.
Ratajski still held hopes of progressing entering his final match, but a shock defeat to Hunt left Wright needing to capture just a single leg against Pipe to progress.
That was never likely to be especially problematic, and so it proved as Wright added his name to those of the 31 previous qualifiers, although his night did end in defeat.
It took just two legs for Wright to secure top spot, but he was then taken the distance after Pipe's 106 checkout kept the match alive.
Throwing first, Pipe maintained the momentum he'd established all too late in the day, a 12-dart leg securing a victory whose significance was limited to denying those who'd backed Wright to win all three matches.
The second stage - which will again be in group format - begins on May 26.
PDC Home Tour Darts: Monday results
Group 32 - Monday May 18
- Peter Wright 5-2 Adam Hunt
- Krzysztof Ratajski 5-0 Justin Pipe
- Adam Hunt 5-3 Justin Pipe
- Peter Wright 5-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
- Krzysztof Ratajski 4-5 Adam Hunt
- Justin Pipe 5-4 Peter Wright
GROUP STANDINGS
- Peter Wright P 3 W 2 L 1 Leg Diff +3
- Adam Hunt P 3 W 2 L 1 Leg Diff 0
- Krzysztof Ratajski P 3 W 1 L 2 Leg Diff +3
- Justin Pipe P 3 W 1 L 2 Leg Diff -6
CLICK HERE FOR FULL TOURNAMENT RESULTS & FIXTURES
Related Darts Content
- 2020 Premier League venues & dates
- 2020 PDC event calendar & results
- 2020 World Darts Championship results
- 2019 PDC event results
- Sky Bet's darts odds
Responsible gambling
We are committed in our support of responsible gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
Sky Bet's responsible gambling tools are detailed here and if you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, or visit begambleaware.org.
Further support and information can be found at GamCare and gamblingtherapy.org.