Peter Wright’s world championship title bid is still on track after beating Seigo Asada – on a night where the Alexandra Palace was plunged into darkness.
A power cut halted the action at the venue as fans waited for the third-round tie between Wright and Asada, and when the lights came back on the Scot turned up the power as the match went on, eventually proving too much for the 39-year-old Japanese thrower.
Wright made hard work of it, changing his darts in the middle of the match, en route to hitting eight 180s and a 94.5 average.
The seventh seed will now play Jeffrey de Zwaan for a place in the quarter-finals. De Zwaan is through to the last 16 for the first time in his career, after beating the 10th seed Dave Chisnall in a classic, seven-set match.
De Zwaan produced a three-dart average of 106.09, hit seven 180s and had 53 per cent on the doubles as he prevailed in a back and forth contest in which Chisnall himself averaged 101.75.
De Zwaan scored heavily throughout the match, with 31 throws of 140 or more, but Chisnall somehow clung to his coat-tails despite regular dips in his performance and a brilliant 161 checkout forced a deciding set.
De Zwaan drew first blood with a break of throw as he took out 76. He doubled his lead to put himself on the verge of victory with a 10-dart leg and from there was able to finish the job.
Dave Clark
(@DaveClarkTV)We’ve had a power cut at The Palace. Peter Wright v Seigo Asada game has been delayed. You will not miss a thing @SkySportsDarts pic.twitter.com/6yVbNbfuov
The two-times world champion Gary Anderson fought back from the brink of elimination to overcome Ryan Searle in his third-round tie.
The Scot, who celebrated his 49th birthday on Sunday, was heading out when he trailed Searle 3-1 but the Englishman, ranked 52 in the world, fell apart late on and Anderson edged through. Anderson will now take on Nathan Aspinall for a place in the quarter-finals.
In Monday’s afternoon session, the two-times world champion Adrian Lewis fought back from two sets down to beat Darren Webster 4-3. Dimitri van den Bergh won 4-2 against Luke Woodhouse to move one win away from a second quarter-final appearance in three years, while Luke Humphries beat Nico Kurz 4-2 to ensure his stay in the competition extended beyond Christmas for the second successive year.
Play will resume on Friday when Fallon Sherrock will look to continue her fine run in the tournament, facing Chris Dobey in the last 32.