Luke Littler struggled to hit top form but still did enough to ease into the last 16 of the World Darts Championship with a 4-1 win over Ian White at Alexandra Palace.
The 17-year-old survived a series of errant doubles and had set darts against him in the first and fourth sets before finding his range when it mattered to sink his veteran opponent.
Littler, who averaged just under 98 for the match, told Sky Sports: “It was tough, Ian threw everything at me and I had to stay switched on.
A brilliant evening of darts comes to a close with all three top seeds winning their respective games! ?#WCDarts pic.twitter.com/IRts1blZrn
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“It was just a case of settling into it. I know what’s gone wrong tonight, the doubles, but most importantly, I’ve won.”
Littler almost suffered an early shock when White missed a dart for the first set, before more uncharacteristically loose doubles let the 54-year-old level the match at 1-1.
Littler looked to have stirred when he rounded off a much more impressive third set with a shot at bull, but he gifted White another set dart in the fourth before crucially snatching the set and moving on to complete his victory.
At 3-2 down in the final set, Searle missed a single 20 to set up a dart at tops that would have tied the set at 3-3, and Joyce duly finished the job to earn his place in round four for the first time since 2019.
Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen admitted he has plenty more to give after chiselling out a 4-2 win over last year’s quarter-finalist Brendan Dolan.
Van Gerwen told Sky Sports: “It was a really difficult game. Everyone knows Brendan doesn’t give up, and I tried to punish him at the right moments and wasn’t capable of doing that.
“After 1-1 I think I played some really good sets but I let it slip away with a few things. There’s still a lot of work to do, but I know I’m capable of doing it.”
In the afternoon session, Nathan Aspinall fired a warning to his rivals after booking his place in the last 16 with a 4-0 win over Andrew Gilding.
The 33-year-old Aspinall did not have to be on his best form to beat his below-par opponent and maintain hopes of emulating his back-to-back semi-final appearances in 2019 and 2020.
But he believes an evident improvement in one of the weaker parts of his game augurs well for the sterner tests that will face him in the later stages.
“In the last six months I’ve been very flat when I’m playing and I’ve made a conscious effort to get that fire lit in my stomach. If I get the scoring going with that finishing, I’m tough to beat.”
Aspinall will face Ricardo Pietreczko in the last 16 after the German brushed aside Scott Williams 4-1, wrapping up his victory with an impressive 121 checkout.
