Gary Anderson and Darryl Fitton joined title-holder Jelle Klaasen in making early exits from the Lakeside World Championship in Frimley Green.
Klaasen bowed out last night against Dutch compatriot Co Stompe and it was another man from the Netherlands, Albertino Essers, who put paid to Anderson's hopes with a 3-2 win.
There was little to choose between the duo throughout the match, but it was Essers who always just had the edge as he claimed the scalp of the second seed.
Anderson, a 36-year-old Scot, has a reputation for struggling when he takes his game to the stage and that surfaced again, especially on the doubles against the player who knocked out former champion Ted Hankey in the first round last year.
Fitton, who made his trademark entrance dancing to Madness hit `One Step Beyond', took the first set against qualifier Phil Nixon but then lost nine consecutive legs to go down 3-1.
Nixon, making his debut in the tournament at the age of 50, settled well and hit checkouts of 121 and 110 as he refused to allow the seventh seed any way back into the match.
'I felt very comfortable up there," said Nixon, from Durham, who has been trying to qualify for 20 years.
'I've been waiting 33 years, since I first started playing darts, for this and I've won at the first time of asking.'
