PHIL TAYLOR moved into the last eight of the Bavaria World Darts Trophy with a hard-fought 4-1 win over John Walton in Utrecht.
Taylor, who averaged 104 in his first round win over Brian Sorensen, struggled with his doubles at times against the Yorkshireman.
He missed seven darts to win the third set and allow Walton to pull back to 2-1, but a run of six successive legs earned him the win.
He took the first two sets 3-2, with the opening nine legs going against the throw before Taylor broke Walton in the second set's decider.
Walton - who earlier hit six perfect darts in one leg - hit a 104 finish to break Taylor in the third leg of the second set.
Taylor broke back with a 12-darter, but his profligacy at the double allowed Walton to step in with double 16 for the set.
Walton also took advantage of Taylor misses at double 16 to win the opener of the fourth set, but Taylor found another gear to reel off six straight legs - including a 124 finish - to take the win.
Michael van Gerwen knocked out Simon Whitlock in a classic contest, which went to a tie-break before the young Dutchman prevailed.
Van Gerwen followed up his win over Raymond van Barneveld in round one with another superb display, hitting 11 maximums and 95.82 average
After Whitlock won the opening leg, van Gerwen took six on the trot, including a 130 finish, to move two sets clear.
Whitlock took the third in a decider and won the fourth without reply to level matters before van Gerwen posted three successive 15-darters to move back in front.
The Australian, a semi-finalist at May's International Darts League, took the sixth set 3-1 to send the game into a decider.
He also led 2-0 before missing darts in the next two legs to seal a remarkable win.
Van Gerwen stepped in on both occasions to send the match into a tie break before Whitlock won the fifth leg in 13 darts.
Van Gerwen again responded to level the set, and then crucially broke Whitlock in the sixth leg before taking out double 18 for the match.
World number one Colin Lloyd powered into the quarter-finals with a 4-2 win over number one seed Gary Anderson.
Lloyd produced a polished display, averaging 97, hitting a 170 finish and missing double 12 for a nine-dart leg.
He won the opening set 3-0 and led in the next before Anderson took three legs on the spin, including a 161 checkout, to level matters.
Lloyd took the third 3-0 and then came back from 2-0 down to win the fourth, including his maximum checkout in the fourth leg.
He moved 1-0 up in the fifth set and then began the next leg with scores of 180 and 177. With a 20,000 euro holiday up for grabs, he landed two further treble 20s before seeing his final dart land inside the double 12 wire.
Lloyd went on to take the leg, but Anderson came back strongly with three successive legs to stay in the match, with Lloyd missing double four for the game in the fourth leg.
But the Essex star was not to be denied, and he took out the sixth set in style 3-0 to set up a clash with Phil Taylor on Thursday.
"It was a solid performance," said Lloyd. "Gary played well but I was very pleased.
"I scored well and my finishing was good again - apart from for the nine-darter.
"I threw the double 12 like I did in the Irish Masters (when he won the event with a nine-darter) and I thought it was going in, but it dipped at the last minute."
The night's final game saw Scotland's Mike Veitch overcome number four seed Tony Eccles 4-1.
Bavaria World Darts Trophy
Round Two
Tuesday 5 September
Phil Taylor 4-1 John Walton
Michael van Gerwen 4-3 Simon Whitlock
Colin Lloyd 4-2 Gary Anderson
Tony Eccles v Mike Veitch
Click here for Schedule of Play and Results
Photos Courtesy Robert Lusing/Bavaria World Darts Trophy