Peter Wright has begun the defence of his PDC world title with a routine 3-0 victory over Mickey Mansell on Thursday night.
The two-time champion has endured a mixed year by his own high standards, reaching the semi-final on just one occasion in televised events.
However, the Scot did not have to be at his best to overcome Mansell, who has earlier progressed through his first-round tie with New Zealand's Ben Robb.
Wright dropped just one leg in the match, that coming after he had missed numerous darts at a double, and two 180s and an average of 88.34 was more than enough to book his spot in the last 32.
Peter Wright charging towards the finish line against Mickey Mansell pic.twitter.com/4fDJ3g3kfO
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 15, 2022
The first shock of the tournament transpired in just the second match as Keane Barry suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat to South African debutant Grant Sampson.
Barry, a 2022 UK Open semi-finalist, struggled to find any kind of consistency with his scoring, and Sampson overturned a 2-0 deficit in the opening set to move two sets up and lead 1-0 in set three.
To his credit, Irishman Barry proceeded to reel off four successive legs to look favourite to force a decider, but Sampson responded with 15 and 14-dart legs before taking out 64 to progress through to a clash with Kim Huybrechts.
In the match of the night, Nathan Rafferty marked his debut with a 3-2 victory over Jermaine Wattimena in a topsy-turvy encounter.
Twenty-two-year-old Rafferty twice held a lead, winning sets one and three by 3-2 and 3-0 scorelines, but his Dutch opponent took the second and fourth by the same margins.
However, in a nervy decider where the pair missed 16 doubles between them, Rafferty took it 3-1 after Wattimena had squandered chances to take it into a last-leg shootout.
Darren Plant
