World Darts Championship: James Wade thrashed by Jermaine Wattimena for early exit at Alexandra Palace | Darts News happymamay

James Wade became the first seeded player to exit the World Darts Championship after being defeated by Jermaine Watimena in the second round at Alexandra Palace.

Wade – a four-time World Championship semi-finalist – was considered a potential contender to challenge for the Sid Waddell Trophy, but was defeated in his opening match for the third year in a row.

The Englishman won the first leg by 13 bets, but Watimena took control of the one-sided contest by winning the next eight games to take a two-sets-and-a-break lead against the 16th seed.

Wade briefly halted Watimena’s run by taking out the tops for 15 bets, but the Dutchman wrapped up the win inside 20 minutes on leg leaving him facing either compatriot Wesley Blaisier or two-time world champion Peter Wright after Christmas.

More to follow…

What happened Monday afternoon?

More fun He came back twice from a set down to defeat Ryusei Azimoto in a low-scoring contest, where both players struggled with their averages and finishing. The first goal came in the middle of the fourth set, before Blaizier improved in the final stages of the long confrontation to win six consecutive matches and seal the victory.

Luke Woodhouse He won each of his first seven matches en route to a straight sets victory over Lawrence Ilagan, scoring an average of 94.38 and firing a maximum of four to set up a showdown against World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker.

Kay Gotthardt He overcame a broken barrel and dropped a set to defeat Alan Souttar 3-1 in his World Championship debut, with the German now facing Stephen Bunting in the next round.

Gotthardt was forced to leave the stage to solve the problem during the first set, which Souttar won, before taking advantage of the Scot’s poor finishing to win eight matches on his way to an impressive victory.

What’s next?

We have an action-packed day on Tuesday 17th December and you can watch it live on Sky Sports Darts.

Starting at 12.30pm, we have James Hurrell vs. Jim Long, Kevin Deutz vs. Noah-Lynn Van Leuven, Ryan Joyce vs. Darius Labanauskas, and World Grand Prix Champion Mike De Decker vs. Luke Woodhouse.

Then starting at 7 p.m., it’s Jeffrey De Graaf taking on Rashad Sweeting, Ricardo Petriczko taking on Xiaochen Zhong, Ryan Mickle as Fallon Sherrock – with a chance to face Luke Littler on the line – and Peter Wright taking on Wesley Blaisier.

Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live from 15 December to 3 January on the dedicated darts channel, Sky Sports. Stream darts and more of the best sports with NOW.