Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld will face off in the quarter-finals of the TABtouch Perth Darts Masters after both overcame tricky first-round hurdles earlier today.
Taylor, who won the inaugural Melbourne Darts Masters last week to extend his impressive record in Australia to seven wins from eight World Series events, came from behind to beat Auckland champion Kyle Anderson 6-4.
Perth-born Anderson punished missed doubles from Taylor to break in the opening leg, but the 16-time world champion broke straight back to level the score.
The home favourite fired in the first of his four maximums on his way to an 11-dart break in leg three, before holding throw in 13 darts to open up a 3-1 lead.
The pair then traded holds of throw in the next two legs to take the Australian in to a 4-2 lead, before Taylor landed tops to close the gap to one.
The turning point in the match came in the eighth leg, as Anderson spurned a dart at tops to hold throw for 5-3 and Taylor pinned double 16 to break and level up at 4-4.
Taylor then took the next two legs to book his place in the quarter-finals and another meeting with his great rival van Barneveld tomorrow.
“Barney” survived a late fightback from Cadby to beat the reigning world youth champion in a deciding leg 6-5 and gain revenge after losing to the young Australian in the first round in Melbourne last week.
Van Barneveld made a fine start as he broke Cadby’s throw with a 13 darter on double 14, before a 100 checkout, after holding throw in the second, saw him establish a commanding 3-0 lead.
Cadby responded with a 96 checkout for an 11 darter to get one of the breaks back, before the 22-year-old landed double 18 to cut the Dutchman’s advantage to one leg.
Van Barneveld hit back by winning the next two legs, the latter of those ending with an 86 finish on double seven, to move within a leg of victory.
But the Auckland runner-up was not finished as he broke van Barneveld’s throw in the next leg and then held to cut the gap to 5-4, with “Barney” having missed a match dart at double 18 in the eighth leg.
Van Barneveld then missed two match darts in the 10th leg and Cadby punished him with a stunning 161 checkout to force a decider.
A crucial 180 in the deciding leg set up van Barneveld for the victory as he took out 15 on double four to squeeze through.
Elsewhere, Daryl Gurney produced the performance of the first round as he hit all his attempts at double and posted a new career-high televised average of 106.09 in a 6-0 win over Koha Kokiri.
The Northern Irishman had checkouts of 96 and 100 in the opening two legs, before a 130 finish on the bull sealed his place in the quarter-finals.
Gurney will now face Melbourne runner-up Peter Wright after the third seed booked his spot in the last eight with a 6-2 win against Rhys Mathewson.
The reigning UK Open champion averaged 100.24 and hit close to 50 per cent of his doubles as he replicated the scoreline he beat Mathewson by in the opening round in Melbourne last week.
Top seed Gary Anderson kicked off his latest bid for a first World Series title in Australia with a comfortable 6-1 win against Rob Szabo.
After a slow start, the two-time world champion finished with an average of 96.47 and hit seven perfect darts in the fourth leg as he progressed through to the second day.
The Scot will now face Australian number one Simon Whitlock after he saw off Justin Thompson 6-2 in the first round.
Whitlock, who averaged over 107 in his first round thrashing of Kyle Anderson in Melbourne last week, posted the lowest winning average of the first round of 83.74, but punished missed doubles from Thompson to advance to the quarter-finals.
Former Perth finalist James Wade also booked his place in the last eight after whitewashing TV debutant Darren Hayes 6-0 today.
A 95.94 average was more than enough for “The Machine” to overcome a nervy Hayes, who did not have a shot at the double on his first appearance in front of the cameras.
Next up for Wade is a clash with former world youth champion Michael Smith tomorrow after “Bully Boy” got the three-day tournament started with a straight-forward 6-2 win against Adam Rowe.
The world number nine was not at his best but hit two maximums and sealed the victory with a 120 checkout as he made it through to his third successive World Series quarter-final.
TABtouch Perth Darts Masters
Friday August 25 (7pm local time, 12pm BST)
First Round
Michael Smith 6-2 Adam Rowe
Peter Wright 6-2 Rhys Mathewson
Daryl Gurney 6-0 Koha Kokiri
James Wade 6-0 Darren Hayes
Simon Whitlock 6-2 Justin Thompson
Phil Taylor 6-4 Kyle Anderson
Gary Anderson 6-1 Rob Szabo
Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Corey Cadby
Best of 11 legs
Picture: Emma Morley DPA/PDC
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