ROB CROSS suffered a shock exit at the hands of Kirk Shepherd on Day Two of the Danish Darts Open in Copenhagen on Saturday, as 16 players advanced to Sunday's final day of action.
Day Two of the eighth European Tour event of 2019 saw 32 players in action as the 16 seeded players faced Friday's winners at the Brondby Hallen, all looking to secure places in Finals Day of the £140,000 event.
Tournament favourite heading into the event, former World Champion Cross' wait for a first PDC title of 2019 will go on after he went down 6-4 to 2008 World Championship runner-up Shepherd.
Cross missed 13 darts at double in the close contest, while Shepherd's greater accuracy on the outer ring saw him hit six of his 11 attempts at double to advance to the final day of a European Tour event for the first time in his career.
"I'm absolutely delighted. Rob let me off the hook but that's not my fault, and now I've beaten a World Champion," said Shepherd.
"This is the furthest I've ever got on the European Tour and I'm really enjoying it so let's see if I can keep it going tomorrow."
Shepherd will face Chris Dobey in Sunday afternoon's Last 16 after the Geordie survived two match-darts in edging past Ricky Evans 6-5.
Number one seed Ian White also ran out a 6-5 winner against Martin Schindler to begin his bid for a third consecutive European Tour crown after coming back from 5-3 down.
White survived match darts in the first round of his title wins in Sindelfingen and Zwolle in May, and he was made to sweat once again by Schindler who missed a dart for a 6-3 win.
World number ten White avoided a clash with practice-partner Michael Smith as the World Championship runner-up went down 6-4 to Dutch number two Jermaine Wattimena, despite Smith's five-point superior average.
A day of comebacks in Copenhagen saw James Wade land three ton-plus checkouts as he fought back from 3-1 down to overcome Sweden's Dennis Nilsson 6-3, while Adrian Lewis also rose from the ashes in overturning a 4-2 deficit to beat Kyle Anderson 6-4.
Wade will now take on Jonny Clayton who ran out a 6-5 winner over Danish crowd favourite Per Laursen, while Lewis will face 2018 Danish Darts Open runner-up Simon Whitlock, as the Australian number one defeated Nathan Aspinall 6-4.
Defending champion Mensur Suljovic got his bid for back-to-back Danish Darts Open titles underway by edging out Gabriel Clemens 6-5, and he will now meet Dave Chisnall who saw off Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2.
German Darts Championship winner Daryl Gurney recorded a convincing 6-1 win over Ryan Joyce, with the Northern Irishman now set to play Jose de Sousa.
Portuguese number one De Sousa played out a thrilling contest with Darren Webster, who missed a dart at the bullseye to complete a miraculous comeback from 5-1 down, before De Sousa eventually closed it out to win 6-5.
There were no such theatrics in Joe Cullen's meeting with Kevin Burness as Cullen ended his six-week wait for a PDC win with a thumping 6-1 success, and he will now take on Peter Wright.
World number five Wright came out on top of William O'Connor 6-2 in a replay of last weekend's World Cup Final singles tie, with a clinical Wright missing just two darts at double in the match.
Gerwyn Price averaged over 100 in a hard-fought 6-4 victory over Ryan Harrington, and the Welshman's next assignment will be Stephen Bunting, who edged out New Zealander Cody Harris 6-4.
Sunday's third and final day of the Danish Darts Open will see the Last 16 matches take place in the afternoon session, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in the evening.
All the action will be broadcast on PDCTV-HD, and through a series of bookmakers' websites worldwide.
Saturday June 15
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Stephen Bunting 6-4 Cody Harris
Jose de Sousa 6-5 Darren Webster
Jonny Clayton 6-5 Per Laursen
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Krzysztof Ratajski
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Joe Cullen 6-1 Kevin Burness
Daryl Gurney 6-1 Ryan Joyce
Chris Dobey 6-5 Ricky Evans
Evening Session
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Ryan Harrington
Kirk Shepherd 6-4 Rob Cross
Peter Wright 6-2 William O'Connor
James Wade 6-3 Dennis Nilsson
Adrian Lewis 6-4 Kyle Anderson
Mensur Suljovic 6-5 Gabriel Clemens
Ian White 6-5 Martin Schindler
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Michael Smith
Sunday June 16
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Third Round
Gerwyn Price v Stephen Bunting
Peter Wright v Joe Cullen
Kirk Shepherd v Chris Dobey
Daryl Gurney v Jose de Sousa
James Wade v Jonny Clayton
Adrian Lewis v Simon Whitlock
Mensur Suljovic v Dave Chisnall
Ian White v Jermaine Wattimena
Evening Session (1915 local time, 1815 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Price/Bunting v Wright/Cullen
Shepherd/Dobey v Gurney/De Sousa
Wade/Clayton v Lewis/Whitlock
Suljovic/Chisnall v White/Wattimena
Semi-Finals
Final
Sunday’s games played in Draw Bracket order
Format
All games up to and including the quarter-finals are the best of 11 legs, with the semi-finals the best of 13 legs and the final the best of 15 legs.
Prize Fund
Winner: £25,000
Runner-up: £10,000
Semi-Finalists: £6,500
Quarter-Finalists: £5,000
Last 16: £3,000
Last 32: £2,000
Last 48: £1,000
Total: £140,000
Watch Online
PDC European Tour events can be watched online through PDCTV-HD for all subscribers worldwide.
Live coverage with faster streams may also be available at the following bookmakers' websites:
bet365 - www.bet365.com - Worldwide
Bet90 - www.bet90.com - Brazil, Germany
Betfair - www.betfair.com - Brazil, Denmark, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Wales
Betfred - www.betfred.com - England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
bwin - www.bwin.com - Worldwide
FDJ - www.fdj-gaming-solutions.com - France
Fonbet - www.fonbet.com - Armenia, Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Russian federation, Ukraine
Fortuna - www.fortunagroup.eu - Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
Legolasbet - www.legolas.bet - Sweden
Ligastavok - www.ligastavok.ru/ - Russia
Marathonbet - www.betmarathon.com - Belarus, Russian Federation, Spain, Ukraine
Nike - www.nike.sk - Slovakia
Olimp - www.betolimp.com - Kazakhstan, Russian federation
Paddy Power - www.paddypower.com/ - England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
Stoiximan - www.stoiximan.gr - Cyprus, Greece, Romania
Supabets - www.supabets.com.gh - Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa
Superbet - www.superbet.ro/ - Romania, Poland
Tempobet - www.tempobet.org - Europe
Totogaming - www.totogaming.am/en/ - Armenia
Tipsport - www.tipsport.cz - Czech Republic & Slovakia
Unibet - www.unibet.com - Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom
William Hill - www.williamhill.com - Great Britain, Ireland, Spain
Winlinebet - www.winlinebet.ru - Russia
World Sports Betting - www.worldsportsbetting.co.za - Namibia, South Africa