Ireland's William O'Connor was knocked out of the PDC World Championships after a second-round loss to England's Chris Dobey, while Brendan Dolan progressed through to round three after winning a sudden-death decider against fellow Northern Irishman Mickey Mansell.
Dobey, the current Masters champion, beat Limerick native O'Connor 3-2 in a match of high scoring and high quality.
The pair produced 17 180s - 10 for Dobey and seven for O'Connor - as the game swung one way and then the other into a final set.
Dobey, who this week celebrated the birth of his son Chester, held his nerve to win the decider 3-1 and finished with a match average of 103.09, his best at Alexandra Palace.
Earlier, Dolan progressed through to round three of the World Darts Championship after winning a sudden-death decider against fellow Northern Irishman Mickey Mansell.
The former World Cup team-mates produced a combined nine 180s as they remained level-pegging heading into the first tie-break of the tournament.
Mansell sent the match to the last-leg shoot-out when he checked out with a sensational 148 finish but Fermanagh native Dolan made the darts count in the decider with a double 16 to seal a 3-2 win after nearly an hour and a half on the oche. He will now face 2021 champion Gerwyn Price in the next round at Alexandra Palace.
Raymond van Barneveld rolled back the years to reach the third round with a 3-1 victory over Cork-based Polish player Radek Szaganski.
The 56-year-old Dutchman - a five-time world champion - booked his post-Christmas place at Alexandra Palace and may fancy his chances of going further in the tournament with Peter Wright and James Wade eliminated from his section of the draw.
Van Barneveld next plays Welshman Jim Williams, the conqueror of two-time world champion Wright, and could meet teenage sensation Luke Littler in the last 16.
"Of course I look at it (the draw) but it gives you more pressure, right?" Van Barneveld told Sky Sports after averaging 99.81 and resisting a strong Szaganski recovery after the Pole had lost the opening two sets.
"Peter Wright has gone, James Wade has gone, but, hey, there's a little guy named Luke Littler. Come on, he's fantastic.
"I had a bad start. When I was practising backstage I never missed a treble. I'm thinking 'all right', but my finishing was really good and I'm really happy with this game.
"But it's still not my A game and I can do a lot better."
Florian Hempel ended Dimitri van den Bergh's tournament hopes for the second time in three years.
Van den Bergh, the number 15 seed and World Championship semi-finalist 12 months ago, raced into a two-set lead after losing the first two legs of the match.
But Hempel stormed back to win 3-2 and will play Stephen Bunting or Ryan Joyce in round three.
Hempel's fellow German Martin Schindler overcame Jermaine Wattimena 3-1.
Schindler dominated most of the match but Wattimena had the consolation of a 170 checkout in the third set.
Jeffrey De Graaf came from a set down to knock Jose de Sousa out with a 3-1 victory.
De Sousa hit the front in the first set but was pegged back by the Dutchman, who held all three of his legs on throw and nicked the third before a 115 average in the fourth and final set put him through to the third round.
Elsewhere, Krzysztof Ratajski eased through with a 3-1 win over Jamie Hughes despite losing the first set, while Boris Krcmar produced a stunning display as he defeated Dirk van Duijvenbode by the same score.
Van Duijvenbode has been suffering from a shoulder injury recently and clinched the first set but he only managed to bag one more leg throughout the rest of the contest as Krcmar bulldozed his way to victory with an average of 96.84.
On Saturday, Ireland's Steven Lennon will play Welsh opponent Jonny Clayton for a place in the third round.
