Christian Perez began his defence of the PDC Asian Championship by moving through to the quarter-finals in Shimonoseki City on Saturday.
The second staging of the $100,000 tournament saw the 48-player main event begin in Japan, as reigning champion Perez impressed to progress through to Sunday's Finals Day.
Saturday's action began with a round-robin stage, as the 48 players were split into 16 groups of three, with each group winner progressing to the last 16, which took place later in the afternoon.
Perez - who secured a PDC Tour Card at Qualifying School in January - breezed through the initial group phase, before running out a comprehensive 5-2 winner against Hong Kong's Lok Yin Lee in the last 16.
He was joined in the quarter-finals by Singapore stalwart Paul Lim, who recovered from 4-2 down to edge out Rosendo Jr Lubaton and maintain his hopes of securing a World Darts Championship return.
Japan's Haruki Muramatsu is one of three Host-Nation representatives through to the last eight, after registering winning legs of 14, 14, 17, 13 and 12 darts to topple Alex Tagarao with a 101 average.
Muramatsu's compatriot Motomu Sakai fought back from 4-1 down to stun top seed Lourence Ilagan in a dramatic last 16 clash, surviving match darts on his way to setting up a last eight showdown against Lim.
Ryusei Azemoto also progressed to the quarter-finals on home soil, while the Filipino trio of Raymond Copano, Sonny Millo Balagat and Sandro Eric Sosing also won through to Sunday's latter stages.
The PDC Asian Championship winner and runner-up will qualify for the 2023/24 Paddy Power World Darts Championship, after the top four players on the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit crashed out before the quarter-final stage.
In addition, if no Japanese player reaches the PDC Asian Championship final, the best-placed non-qualified Japanese player from the PDC Asian Championship will also seal a place at Alexandra Palace.
However, if one or both of the PDC Asian Championship finalists are Japanese, this place will then pass to the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit.
The PDC Asian Championship winner will also secure a place in November's Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton, where Perez competed in 2022.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will take place on a bumper day of action on Sunday, which will be streamed live on PDCTV.
2023 PDC Asian Championship
Saturday October 7
Shimonoseki City, Japan
Last 16
Motomu Sakai 5-4 Lourence Ilagan
Paul Lim 5-4 Rosendo Jr Lubaton
Haruki Muramatsu 5-2 Alex Tagarao
Raymond Copano 5-4 Mohd Nasir Bin Jantan
Sonny Millo Balagat 5-4 Tomoya Goto
Sandro Eric Sosing 5-1 Jemel Modesto
Ryusei Azemoto 5-3 Tatsunami Mitsuhiko
Christian Perez 5-2 Lok Yin Lee
Sunday October 8
Shimonoseki City, Japan
Quarter-Finals
Motomu Sakai v Paul Lim
Haruki Muramatsu v Raymond Copano
Sonny Millo Balagat v Sandro Eric Sosing
Ryusei Azemoto v Christian Perez
Semi-Finals
Sakai/Lim v Muramatsu/Copano
Balagat/Sosing v Azemoto/Perez
Final
v
2023 PDC Asian Championship
Prize Money
Winner - $15,000
Runner-Up $7,000
Semi-Finalists - $5,000
Quarter-Finalists - $3,000
Last 16 - $2,000
Second in Group - $1,500
Third in Group - $1,000
Total - $100,000
Format
Quarter-Finals - Best of 11 legs
Semi-Finals - Best of 11 legs
Final - Best of 13 legs