DARIUS LABANAUSKAS came back from 1-0 down to defeat Matthew Edgar 3-1 in round one of the 2018/19 William Hill World Darts Championship.
Edgar, whose grandfather played on the Alexandra Palace stage in the 1963 News of the World Championship, took the first set 3-1 to punish Labanauskas' 15 missed darts at double.
The first Lithuanian to star in the PDC World Championship, Labanauskas put his missed doubles behind him to reel off three successive legs and level it up at 1-1.
The third set also went the way of Labanauskas who averaged over 100 for much of it, but still needed a last dart in hand double 16 to take a 2-1 lead.
Nordic and Baltic Qualifier Labanauskas didn't drop another leg to seal a 3-1 victory on his Alexandra Palace debut, and he will now face five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld in the second round.
Match Stats
Averages:
Edgar - 83.41
Labanauskas - 93.57
180s:
Edgar - 2
Labanauskas - 3
Highest Finish:
Edgar - 48
Labanauskas - 100
100+ Checkouts:
Edgar - 0
Labanauskas - 1
Finishing:
Edgar - 5/12
Labanauskas - 10/35
