Daryl Gurney was denied a remarkable comeback victory in his third round clash with Jonny Clayton, the Derryman being edged out in a seven-set thriller.
Clayton, seeded seventh in the tournament, looked to be cruising through when he soared into a 3-0 lead, and appeared on the cusp of a routine victory after whitewashing his opponent in the third set.
However, Gurney, a two-time premier event winner in the PDC, rallied superbly, racking up a 102 average to claim the fourth set. Into his groove, Gurney breezed through the fifth set 3-0 before levelling things up at 3-3 after a nervy finish to the sixth set.
The Welshman had the throw at the start of the seventh set and steadied the ship to take a 2-1 lead in the decider. Gurney then had six darts to send it to a tiebreaker in the decider but lost his nerve and Clayton stole victory.
It is the second successive win for Clayton over Irish opposition by the narrowest of margins and there are just two Irish players remaining in the field, Antrim's Josh Rock facing Chris Dobey, while Fermanagh's Brendan Dolan plays three-time champion Michael Van Gerwen.
World number one Luke Humphries continued his bid for back-to-back World Championship titles after easing through to the last 16.
He beat Nick Kenny 4-0 to set up a mouth-watering fourth-round meeting with two-time champion Peter Wright.
Kenny was unable to produce the form that saw him beat Raymond van Barneveld in the previous round and Humphries did not need to be anywhere near his best.
"It was one of those games I didn't want to take for granted," he said.
"I expected a tough game and I wasn’t firing, I felt there is so much more to give, I felt there was more to come out of me.
"I didn’t want to give anyone an inch because they can take a mile.
"I’m not going to give up this world title without a fight, I wasn’t at my best but when someone pushes me I know I can come up with the goods."
Damon Heta set the World Championship alight on its resumption with a stunning nine-dart finish before bowing out.
The Australian, seeded ninth, achieved darting perfection in the second set of his third round match with Luke Woodhouse to earn a cool £60,000 payday.
However, his joy was short-lived as Woodhouse won a thrilling battle 4-3, having trailed 3-1.
Heta was millimetres away from throwing a nine-darter in the previous round when he missed the double 12, but he made no mistake this time in the first match after the Christmas break.
He followed up successive 180s with a treble 20 and treble 19 before sending his ninth dart the right side of the wire.
HEROIC HETA HITS THE NINE! 🔥
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 27, 2024
UNBELIEVABLE SCENES! 🤯
Damon Heta lands the second nine-darter of the tournament to raise the roof at Alexandra Palace! #WCDarts pic.twitter.com/DW6rhvFqez
Heta's feat was the second time a nine-darter has been thrown in the 2025 tournament and the 16th of all time at the World Championship, following Christian Kist's effort before Christmas.
Woodhouse took his opponent’s achievement in good spirits, hugging the Australian and raising his arm in the air.
As well as landing the Australian a hefty payday, it also saw a lucky fan in the Alexandra Palace win a £60,000, with £60,000 also being donated to Prostate Cancer UK.
There were several other titanic battles, none better than Gerwyn Price's sudden-death leg victory over Joe Cullen.
Price looked like he was going to have an easy night when he coasted into a 3-0 lead, but Cullen hit back to send it to a decider, which went all the way.
Cullen landed a 'Big Fish’ 170 checkout to send the tie to a sudden-death leg on his throw but Price hit some big numbers to steal victory.
That 170 finish from Joe Cullen... Simply ridiculous 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tuGZBTUKsT
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 27, 2024
"That was tough, I just wanted to get over the winning line," he said during his on-stage interview.
"He kept coming back, the crowd were way behind him.
"I thought I was going to lose, but I kept in there right to the end and got the win.
"He played some good darts at the right times. I put myself in that position, I got myself out of it and I’m still in."
Stephen Bunting and Peter Wright, who was suffering from a chest infection, enjoyed much more safe passages with routine wins over Madars Razma and Jermaine Wattimena respectively.
