by Top seed Gerwyn Price completed a comfortable 4-1 win over Jose de Sousa to book his place in the quarter-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.
The world number one Welshman averaged just over 94 and hit eight 180s to move on to the last eight as he aims to repeat his success in 2021.
‘The Iceman’, who beat five-times world champion Raymond van Barneveld 4-0 in the last round, will face either Gabriel Clemens or Alan Soutar.
“I got a win. I just wanted to get up there and win, never mind the performance,” Price said at a press conference broadcast by PDC media.
“It was just one of those games where I had to cross the winning line, and that’s what I did.
“I was fighting myself and him, but it is what it is: you come across certain players and circumstances, so you just have to deal with it.
“I felt comfortable playing the game and always thought I was going to win, it was just a matter of time.”
On Thursday, Dirk van Duijvenbode beat Ross Smith 4-3 after securing the final set in a thrilling deadly draw in a high-quality match that saw a record 31 tops thrown during a best-of-seven contest.
After surviving five match darts missed by ‘Smudger’ Smith, Van Duijvenbode went 6-5 up in the decider to face fellow Dutchman Michael van Gerwen, three-time former champions, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Rob Cross, the 2018 world champion, edged past Mervyn King 4-1 with a 99.7 average and five 180s to progress to the round of 16.
Sixth seed Cross will face Chris Dobey, who had ended two-time former winner Gary Anderson’s hopes in the third round on Wednesday.
The final match of Thursday’s afternoon session at the Palace saw Stephen Bunting defeat Dave Chisnall 4-2 as he booked a fourth round appointment with Luke Humphries.
Bunting ended an eight-game losing streak to fellow St Helens player Chisnall with an average of just over 102, which included nine 180s and three over-ton checkouts.
Humphries secured a place in the round of 16 with a 4-3 victory over Vincent van der Voort in the opening match of Thursday’s evening session.
‘Cool Hand Luke’ led 2-0 before Dutchman Van der Voort rallied to level the game and then back to 3-3.
World number five Humphries rallied to take the decider straight legs, finishing with an average of 96.5 games and having eight top picks.
Thursday’s final game saw Jonny Clayton come from behind Josh Rock 4-3 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
Welshman Clayton, seeded seventh, fought back after trailing 3-2 to force a deciding set in which he won all three legs.
Clayton’s highest checkout was 122 as he hit eight highs with an average of just under 98 to finally end the 21-year-old’s run, which shocked Nathan Aspinall in the final round.
