Evans beats Wade in thriller while Munyua exits

What’s Happening

Listen up: Seventh seed James Wade suffers a fourth successive second-round exit at the PDC World Championship, losing a deciding set to Ricky Evans.

Evans beats Wade in thriller while Munyua exits Image source, PA Media Image caption, Ricky Evans walked on stage to Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin Stevens as part of his Christmas-themed entrance By Phil Cartwright BBC Sport journalist Published 1 hour ago Seventh seed James Wade suffered a fourth successive second-round exit at the PDC World Championship, losing a thrilling tie to fellow Englishman Ricky Evans. Both players missed match darts in the deciding set, with world number 43 Evans at some point taking it 6-4 in the fifth. (shocking, we know)

Wade is the highest-ranked seed to be eliminated so far and his defeat, along with Wessel Nijmans loss earlier on Monday, means 14 of the 32 seeded players have been knocked out.

The Details

Dutch 31st seed Nijman took an L in straight sets to Germanys Gabriel Clemens, who reached the semi-finals in 2023. Elsewhere, Kenyan debutant David Munyua was unable to follow up his shock win over Mike de Decker in round one, winning just two legs in a 3-0 defeat 40 Kevin Doets.

Scotlands Darren Beveridge was beaten 3-1 by Latvias Madars Razma in Mondays opening match. Wades first-round victory was his first win at Alexandra Palace since 2022, when he reached the semi-finals for the fourth time.

Why This Matters

Against Evans, the 42-year-old twice fought back from a set behind and was 2-0 down in legs in the decider before forcing a tie-break - meaning victory would need to be achieved legs. Evans broke Wades throw in the fifth leg and although the left-hander responded ASAP with a clinical 94 checkout to extend the match, Evans made sure he got the job done before holding throw with a 99 finish. “Imagine coming to the darts and winning 3-0 - whats the point?

This could change the dynamics of the sport going forward.

The Bottom Line

“Imagine coming to the darts and winning 3-0 - whats the point? Make it interesting,” dropped a joyous Evans on stage.

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