Nathan Aspinall breezed into the quarter-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship with a comfortable 4-0 win over Ricardo Pietreczko.
The Englishman, seeded 12th, held steady at an average in the low 90s throughout the match – finishing on 94.28 – and his German opponent’s struggles meant that was all that was required.
Pietreczko impressed in his 4-1 win over Scott Williams in the previous round but averaged just 78.46 in his first appearance in the last 16 at Alexandra Palace.
Aspinall happily took advantage, playing up to a lively home crowd, and dropped only two legs in securing his place in the last eight.
“I feel for Ricardo – he didn’t play the game that he set out to play,” he told Sky Sports. “But, wow, I have played in Premier League arenas and I’ve never heard an atmosphere like this, wow.
“This is probably the first game of darts, since probably the Matchplay [when he won in July 2023], where I’ve walked on the stage and loved every minute.”
Aspinall will face the winner of Monday evening’s match between Luke Littler and Ryan Joyce on New Year’s Day.
Meanwhile, Callan Rydz came out on top in a topsy-turvy contest against qualifier Robert Owen to make the quarters for the second time with a 4-3 win.
Rydz was well short of the level he showed in ousting 11th seed Dimitri van den Bergh in round three early on and Owen, who had to swap his shift as a delivery driver to play this match, stepped up to take a two-set lead.
But the crowd were behind Rydz and he responded by winning the next three sets as his rhythm returned.
Owen kept fighting and levelled at 3-3 but Rydz, who hit 12 180s in the match, would not be denied and took the deciding set 3-1.
The 26-year-old from Newcastle will play either Michael van Gerwen or Jeffrey de Graaf in the next round.
Chris Dobey set up a quarter-final against Wales’ Gerwyn Price after a 4-3 win over Dutchman Kevin Doets.
The 15th seed led 1-0 and 2-1 but Doets, who came from behind to knock out second seed Michael Smith and 31st seed Krzysztof Ratajski in the past two rounds, fought back to lead 3-2.
However, this time Doets could not complete the job and Dobey levelled before winning the deciding set 3-1.
