Top seed Glen Durrant saw off the spirited challenge of Welshman Dean Reynolds in straight sets to move into the last 16 of the BDO World Darts Championships on the opening day at Lakeside in Frimley Green on Saturday.
Durrant, a semi-finalist in 2015, was pushed during both of the first two sets by Reynolds, edging each 3-2.
But in the third set the top seed moved clear to claim all three legs and close out the match 3-0.
There had been a shock result in the final match of the afternoon session where Darryl Fitton, the seventh seed and two-time semi-finalist, was beaten 3-2 by veteran Dennis Harbour in sudden death at the end of the deadlocked final set.
The 54-year-old from Peterborough, whose form this year on the BDO circuit had seen him climb into the top-25 in the rankings, recovered from losing the opening set to lead 2-1.
Although Fitton, ranked number five heading into the 2016 championships, fought back to tie the match, Harbour responded.
With the deciding set level at 5-5, Fitton missed half-a-dozen checkout chances to take the match, before Harbour, who had last appeared at Lakeside in 2006, landed a double six to progress.
The opening match of the tournament was a second-round contest where Welshman Jim Williams defeated three-time runner-up Tony 'Silverback' O'Shea 3-0 to secure his place in the last 16.
Williams, who made his Lakeside debut in 2014, took the opening set 3-2.
The world number 10 then broke O'Shea's throw to claim the second set by the same margin before going on to secure an impressive victory with a 140 checkout in the third.
Earlier in the preliminary round, New Zealand's Craig Caldwell beat Alan Soutar of Scotland 3-1 to set up a round-of-32 meeting with defending men's champion Scott Mitchell.
Saturday's other two late matches were also for a place in the last 16.
American Larry Butler beat Englishman James Hurrell 3-2, so will play Ryan de Vreede of the Netherlands in the next round.
Jeff 'The Silencer' Smith of Canada breezed past Dutchman Matthew Medhurst 3-0 to set up a clash against number two seed Martin Adams.
In the women's tournament, defending champion Lisa Ashton, who is searching for a third successive Lakeside title, coasted into the quarter-finals after a 2-0 win over Paula Jacklin.
However, former three-time winner Anastasia Dobromyslova is out after the Russian was beaten 2-1 by Anca Zijlstra of the Netherlands.
