Joe Cullen and Jonny Clayton were the last players to book their places in the third round of the World Darts Championship on Friday night as just 32 remain in the tournament.
Cullen beat Ricky Evans 3-1, while Clayton saw off Danny van Trijp 3-0, dropping just three legs in the process as he eased into his Alexandra Palace campaign.
The competition gets stiffer after Christmas, though, with Cullen taking on Australian star Damon Heta in the last 32 and knowing he will be in for a tough contest.
‘I think I played relatively well, didn’t pull up any trees, but it was just about getting the win,’ Cullen said after downing Evans. ‘I thought I was comfortably the better player, certainly the first two sets. I think if he would have won it he would have pinched it rather than won it. I’m through to after Christmas and I can’t wait.
‘I’m all about winning and I’m here to win it. Damon will be a tough, tough game. He’s playing really well at the minute, and he has been the last few times I’ve drawn him on TV, but I’ll definitely be ready for it.
Clayton will meet Brendan Dolan in the next round as he looks to improve on his record at Ally Pally which is a disappointing one, never going past the last 16 at the World Championship.
The Welshman has not had the kind of success in 2022 that he enjoyed in 2021, but he sees the benefit of not coming in as one of the favourites, despite wanting to be viewed that way.
‘There’s no easy games, but when you’re the hunter and not the hunted maybe it is a bit easier. People keep your name out of things and you can just show what you can do,’ he said.
‘I want to be one of the best players in the world, I want to be spoken about, but I need to prove what I can do, so hopefully I’m back on track.
‘I know I can play darts. I’ve proven what I can do, it was no fluke, as long as I keep my head, throw those darts then let people think about me.’
On facing Dolan he added: ‘Fantastic guy, fantastic dart player and he’s slow. So I really need to concentrate on my game and not think about what Brendan’s going to do. I’m going to give it my best and hopefully get over the line.’
World Darts Championship third round schedule
Tuesday December 27
Afternoon Session
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Krzysztof Ratajski
Nathan Aspinall v Josh Rock
Jonny Clayton v Brendan Dolan
Evening Session
Jim Williams v Gabriel Clemens
Gerwyn Price v Raymond van Barneveld
Peter Wright v Kim Huybrechts
Wednesday December 28
Afternoon Session
Ryan Searle v Jose de Sousa
Danny Noppert v Alan Soutar
Gary Anderson v Chris Dobey
Evening Session
Joe Cullen v Damon Heta
Michael van Gerwen v Mensur Suljovic
Michael Smith v Martin Schindler
Thursday December 29
Afternoon Session
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Ross Smith
Rob Cross v Mervyn King
Dave Chisnall v Stephen Bunting
Evening Session
Luke Humphries v Vincent van der Voort
MORE : Ross Smith aiming for the big time after taking the long road to the top of darts
MORE : Ricky Evans behind the silly masks is ‘capable of anything in this game’
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