Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson were among four players to reach the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix in Coventry on Thursday.
The pair of World Champions won in straight sets, in a tournament traditionally held in Dublin, against Devon Petersen and Danny Noppert respectively, while Simon Whitlock and Dirk van Duijvenbode also made it through to the last eight as the second round began at the Ricoh Arena.
Reigning champion Van Gerwen came through a sudden-death leg to overcome Krzysztof Ratajski in round one, but the world number one enjoyed a more straight-forward way past Petersen.
However, in-form debutant Petersen missed two doubles to win the first set and five to win the second and the South African was made to pay by Van Gerwen, who was once again highly-animated on stage.
The Dutchman averaged 96.28 in an impressive double-start display, which featured a 146 checkout, and wrapped up the win with an 85 finish to set up a quarter-final clash with Whitlock.
MvG BEATS PETERSEN 💪
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 8, 2020
Michael van Gerwen flexes his dominance in a 3-0 set victory over the in-form Devon Petersen in his bid to retain BoyleSports World Grand Prix glory!
An incredible match to close out the action on Day Three 🤯 pic.twitter.com/qrnAQOIJu2
"I enjoyed this game. I did the damage at the right moments but Devon played a good game as well," said Van Gerwen.
"It was close but it doesn't matter how you win as long as you win. I think I was the better player during the game.
"Devon is probably in the form of his life and he's playing with a lot of confidence, and I'm happy with my performance. He's a good guy and a good player, but he needs to know who the boss is!"
Whitlock, meanwhile, fought his way to a 3-2 win over Mervyn King in a marathon contest between two stalwarts of the sport, which saw the maximum amount of legs played.
Anderson breezed into the quarter-finals with a straight sets victory over Danny Noppert.
The 2016 finalist flew out of the blocks and was averaging just shy of 110 after taking the first set without conceding a leg.
ANDERSON WINS IT!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) October 8, 2020
Gary Anderson came out the gates flying but ended the match with a scrappy final set, however he secures his spot in the Last 8 with a 3-0 victory nonetheless!
📺UP NEXT: Van Gerwen v Petersen 🔥 pic.twitter.com/evrq1XMciC
Van Duijvenbode made it through to his first TV quarter-final by defeating World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh 3-1 in the opening game of the night.
Van Duijvenbode was much-improved from his scrappy debut win over Mensur Suljovic as the Dutchman took the opening two sets, both of which went to deciding legs as he capitalised on misses from his opponent to claim both.
Van den Bergh hit back to win the third set's decider, but it wasn't to be the dancing Belgian's night as Van Duijvenbode held his nerve on his favourite double 16 to continue his breakthrough on the big stage.
