World number eight Chris Dobey suffered a shock second round exit at the PDC World Darts Championship with a 3-1 loss to Andrew Gilding.
Gilding, 55, came from behind to beat Dobey 3-1 at Alexandra Palace, finishing with a career best tournament average of 99.01.
Dobey was one of four seeded players to exit the second round on Saturday alongside Dave Chisnall, Michael Smith and Dirk van Duijvenbode.
Having lost the opening set, Gilding dropped only three more three legs as he set up a third round meeting with either Luke Woodhouse or Max Hopp after Christmas.
“I feel amazing. I felt really bad in practice, that’s usually a good sign, you can only get better from there,” Gilding told Sky Sports.
“The first thing I wanted was a nine-darter and the second was a win, so I got the second one.”
Meanwhile, world number four Stephen Bunting won in straight sets against Nitin Kumar, whose first-round victory was the first by an Indian player at the tournament.
Bunting impressed by taking checkouts of 118, 107 and 132 with a 53% success rate on doubles and 94.11 average, while Kumar won just two legs and averaged 75.18.
The Bullet will next face England’s James Hurrell, who earlier beat world number 29 Van Duijvenbode 3-2.
The 2023 world champion Smith, seeded 28th, exited the competition with a 3-1 loss to Niels Zonneveld of the Netherlands.
Despite averaging just shy of 98, Smith was unable to topple Zonneveld who took the last two sets to reach the third round for the first time, where he will face world number five Jonny Clayton.
Wales’ Clayton was due to face Dom Taylor in the second round during Saturday’s evening session, but was handed a bye after his opponent was suspended following a failed drugs test.
