PDC World Championship: Nathan Aspinall beats Boris Krcmar to progress to the third round
- Published
England's Nathan Aspinall beat Boris Krcmar to progress to the third round of the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace.
Two-time semi-finalist Aspinall, 31, came through the tough second-round tie 3-1 against Croatian Krcmar.
He wrapped up the match in the fourth set on double 18 after scoring his 14th 140 of the game.
In the afternoon session, two-time world champion Adrian Lewis suffered a third successive early exit.
Lewis, who won at Alexandra Palace in 2011 and 2012, was beaten 3-0 by Australian number 20 seed Damon Heta.
It is the third year in a row in which the 37-year-old Englishman has been eliminated in round two.
Following his victory over Krcmar, world number 10 Aspinall told Sky Sports: "I never make it easy. I think I robbed the first set to be fair, but likewise, I think I deserved the second set.
"It's the way that darts goes but credit to Boris - I'll say that because he's a big lad, isn't he! I knew he was going to play better than his first game and he played a great game."
In the first round matches, Belgian Mike de Decker defeated Canada's Jeff Smith 3-1 to set up a tie with Mensur Suljovic of Austria, while England's Scott Williams also won 3-1 against compatriot Ryan Joyce on his debut.
Williams, 32. delighted the crowd with his performance - which included 10 180s - and took the match with an 86 checkout in two darts. He will play Englishman Rob Cross in the second round.
Guam-born American Danny Baggish eased past Canadian Matt Campbell 3-0 and will take on England's Mervyn King as his next opponent.
Earlier, Vladyslav Omelchenko made history by becoming the first Ukrainian to play at the Worlds, but was beaten 3-0 by England's Luke Woodhouse.
Omelchenko, a former miner from Krivyi Rih, enjoyed some memorable moments, including the first 180 of the match and a 143 checkout in the third set.
However, Woodhouse pulled through and will now face top seed Gerwyn Price in round two.
There was also a win for Karel Sedlacek of the Czech Republic - his first Worlds victory in three attempts - who impressively beat Australia's Raymond Smith 3-0. He plays 14th seed Dirk van Duijvenbode next.
Latvia's Madars Razma progressed with a 3-1 victory over Prakash Jiwa of India, and faces 11th seed Gary Anderson in round two.