Second seed Smith knocked out of Worlds by Doets

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Former champion Michael Smith has been sensationally knocked out of the PDC World Championship by Kevin Doets.

Englishman Smith, seeded second, went down 3-2 after a pulsating second-round duel at Alexandra Palace in London.

Dutchman Doets prevailed 6-4 in the deciding set, despite checkouts of 123, 84, 94 and 76 from 2023 champion Smith.

"This was the most stressful game of my life and I've won it, yes," said world number 51 Doets.

"I felt if I can keep my focus, I won't lose this. It was so very tight, to get over the line was amazing."

The 26-year-old took the first set and fought back after going 2-1 down to avenge his narrow defeat to Smith at the same stage last year.

Having lost in the second round of the tournament for the first time since 2020, the 34-year-old Smith is now set to drop out of the world's top 10.

England's Scott Williams, who made a shock run to the semi-finals in the 2024 tournament before losing to eventual champion Luke Humphries, overcame Niko Springer 3-1 in a thriller.

German debutant Springer, second on this year's development tour, won all three legs in the opening set before the match exploded into life.

Williams hit back, showing his old swagger as he went ahead after a sensational third set which featured seven 180s.

The 34-year-old edged the deciding leg in the fourth and will meet 2018 champion Rob Cross in round two on Monday.

Welshman Nick Kenny also delighted the Ally Pally crowd with a fabulous 170 finish to seal a 3-0 victory in round one over American Stowe Buntz.

The 31-year-old will face five-time world champion Raymond Barneveld on Saturday evening on a bill which also features teenage star Luke Littler against Ryan Meikle.

Canadian Matt Campbell set up a second-round match against Ryan Searle with a 3-2 defeat of Austrian Mensur Suljovic.

England's Callan Rydz averaged 107.06 to book his place in the second round, before Gabriel Clemens was knocked out by Wales' Robert Owen on Thursday afternoon.

Rydz beat Croatian Romeo Grbavac 3-0, recording the tournament's highest average first-round match average in its current 96-player format.

It was the tournament's 26th highest match average overall and comfortably the best so far at the 2025 event.

The previous record was held by teenager Luke Littler, who scored 106.12 at this stage last year.

Rydz, from Bedlington in Northumberland, meets Germany's Martin Schindler in the second round on Sunday evening.

The afternoon session concluded with Germany's 27th seed Clemens being beaten by Owen, who is ranked 50 places below him.

Owen recorded a 3-1 victory, his second in a matter of days, to reach the third round, which begins on 27 December.

Hong Kong's Lok Yin Lee came from a set down to beat Chris Landman 3-1 after winning nine straight legs.

Lee will face Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan in round two on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, 2024 Grand Slam of Darts runner-up Martin Lukeman came from a set down to beat Indian qualifier Nitin Kumar 3-1.

Lukeman meets 21st seed Andrew Gilding on Monday afternoon for a place in the last 32.

First round

Chris Landman 1-3 Lok Yin Lee