After one of the best afternoon sessions in the history of the World Championships, the first night session of the second round matched it stride for stride. If Phil Taylor didn't have such a nice draw, it would be hard to have seen him reach the last-16 as he had the worst winning average on the day of 90.24. The Power will go onto meet Robert Thornton who won the first sudden death leg of the competition and looked very much like he could beat Taylor for the third time on TV this year if Taylor doesn't pick up his game. He'd also be hoping not to face Terry Jenkins any time soon as the Bull produced a fantastic performance against John Part.
Taylor concluded the night against Jerry Hendriks and missed three darts at the double to concede to opening leg. Hendriks would end up taking the set 3-1 to begin a possible shock in his debut year at the Ally Pally. But something happened to the young Dutchman following the break as his game deteriorated. Taylor wasn't vintage by any means but he was still somehow able to win 12-straight legs to win the match 4-1.
Thornton faced Paul Nicholson in one of the epics of the tournament so far, and the first match to go to sudden death. Despite losing the opening leg, Nicholson took the first set 3-1. The roles were reversed in the second set as Nicholson would win the first leg before Thornton took the second set 3-1 after Nicholson missed three darts to level the set.
Nicholson went 2-0 up in the third set and missed a dart to take it 3-0. No real damage was done though as Nicholson was able to win it 3-1 and retake the lead. The Asset then fired checkouts of 100 and 107 to take a 2-1 lead in the fourth set. But Thornton retaliated and ended up levelling the match with a 130-checkout.
With the momentum in the Scot's court, Thornton took a 2-0 lead in the fifth set. This time it was Nicholson to come back with a 91-checkout on the bull before forcing a deciding leg. But it would be Thornton who took the fifth leg to take a 3-2 lead in the match. A 136-checkout from Thornton put him a leg away from victory but Nicholson composed himself to take the following two legs and force a deciding set.
The pair still couldn't be separated after sharing the next four legs to force a tie-break situation. Thornton hit a 124-checkout to make it 3-2 and missed a dart to win the match in the following leg. The Scot then missed another three at the double as Nicholson took the lead in the set for the first time. A 130-checkout from Thornton again levelled the set before then taking a 5-4 lead. Nicholson held his throw to then force the sudden death leg. Thornton won the throw in the closest to the bull and it paid off as he hit-40 to book his place into the third round.
After his rant about the murals, it looked like Part was still thinking about it against Jenkins. The Ally Pally staff had since added Part's face to the halls but it didn't nothing to motivate the Canadian. Jenkins stormed the first set without conceding before hitting checkouts of 110 and 116 to go 2-0 ahead in the second set. The Bull would then take the set 3-1 to go 2-0 ahead in the match.
Part managed to level the third set at 1-1 before Jenkins made it 3-0 after winning the set 3-1 with a ton checkout courtesy of two double tops. Part managed to rejuvenate himself somewhat in the fourth set with a 107-checkout in the middle of a 3-0 victory. But it didn't do enough as Jenkins responded with a 3-0 set victory of his own to cruise into the second round.
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