Former World Darts Championship semi-finalist Dave Chisnall suffered a second round exit at Alexandra Palace with a 3-2 defeat to Germany’s Ricardo Pietreczko.
World number 21 Chisnall fired in 11 180s to none from Pietreczko and came from 2-0 down to force a fifth set, but the German took the decider to set up a third round tie with Sweden’s Andreas Harrysson after Christmas.
Nine of Chisnall’s maximums came after going 2-0 down but after the Englishman missed a dart at double 16 on a 143 checkout to clinch victory, Pietreczko reeled off three straight legs for victory.
Meanwhile, world number 29 Dirk van Duijvenbode was beaten 3-2 by England’s James Hurrell.
Hurrell, who lost the first set, will next face world number four Stephen Bunting or India’s Nitin Kumar, who meet on Saturday evening.
The 20th seed Ryan Searle started this year’s second round with a blistering 3-0 win over Northern Ireland’s Brendan Dolan.
Searle averaged 98.67 and landed nine of his 14 attempts on the doubles to knock out two-time quarter-finalist Dolan.
Harrysson booked his place in the last 32 with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of fellow tournament debutant Motomu Sakai.
Earlier in the day, Scottish teenager Mitchell Lawrie won the JDC World Youth Championship with a 5-2 win over Kaya Baysal.