• PDC World Championship

Pipe suffers shock Alexandra Palace exit

Laurence Ryder celebrates victory against Justin Pipe © PA Photos

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Justin Pipe became the latest seed to fall at the PDC World Championship following a tight 3-2 defeat to Laurence Ryder on Saturday.

The 17th seed was not at the races, missing 10 out of 11 double attempts in the first set alone, as Ryder came back from 2-1 down to book his spot in the second round.

Australian-based Ryder told the PDC: "I didn't really have many nerves, I felt good and was playing well and in the last set it all kind of clicked together. I played too fast when I played before so playing Justin probably helped me to slow things down a bit.

"It's been a whirlwind year for me in my first year on the Australian Tour as I managed to finish top of over there. I always watched the darts over here and it's great now to be back over here playing after moving out to Australia.

"Darts is really growing fast in Australia, it's getting big and there are some great darts players about so I think there'll be more players coming over in the next few years. Beating a seeded player like Justin really gives you a big boost so now I really think I can go on and beat anyone."

Ronnie Huybrechts booked a second round clash with last year's beaten finalist Peter Wright after the Belgian whitewashed Andy Smith 3-0.

"I'm not really happy with my level of play but I'm in the next round so I'm happy," Huybrechts told the PDC. "Andy missed a few doubles out there and didn't play at his best so I feel sorry for him a bit.

"I hope I play a little bit better in the next round than in this game, I'll need to against Peter but I'm looking forward to playing him. I'll go back now and practice, maybe a bit with [brother] Kim, but we'll see. It'll be busy at home for Christmas, I've got a lot of people to feed so it's always busy when I'm doing the dinner!"

Elsewhere, ninth seed Robert Thornton dropped only two legs in his 3-0 victory against Andrew Gilding.

Ronnie Baxter enjoyed a 3-1 triumph against qualifier Daryl Gurney, who earlier produced the best average ever seen in a preliminary match at the PDC World Championship as he came from 3-0 down to beat Scott Mackenzie 4-3.

Baxter admitted his preparations had been hampered this week: "I managed to lose my darts. I was in a taxi on Thursday and they must have slipped out of my pocket, but luckily I've got a spare set and used them. I've used my usual ones the last two years and gone out in the first round!"

The Alexandra Palace crowd was once again in full voice © PA Photos

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