Beau Greaves narrowly missed out on becoming the second woman in history to win a match at the World Darts Championship after a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Daryl Gurney at Alexandra Palace.
Greaves has dominated the PDC Women's Series, secured her PDC Tour Card and beaten Luke Littler in the World Youth Championship semi-finals during a memorable campaign, with the 21-year-old coming close to a famous victory against the 22nd seed.
She won more legs, scored more 180s and fired a higher average than her opponent, with Greaves twice battling back from a set down to take the first-round clash to a final-set decider.
Gurney clawed back momentum with a stunning 144 finish before closing out victory in the next leg, booking 'Super Chin' a second-round meeting with Callan Rydz and keeping Fallon Sherrock - who reached the third round in 2020 - as the only woman to win a match on the Alexandra Palace stage.
"She's the best woman darts player on the planet," Gurney told Your Site. "If there's going to be a darts player that can win the World Championship or any majors, that's the player."
Nathan Aspinall also progressed after fighting back from a set down to beat Lourence Ilagan 3-1, signing off his victory with a stunning 170 finish, while William O'Connor thrashed Poland's Krzysztof Kciuk in straight sets and Keane Barry beat Tim Pusey by the same margin.
A nervy opening set saw Gurney hold throw with a 90 checkout and capitalise on Greaves busting on the wrong score to break in the next, with 'Super Chin' wasting set darts to allow his opponent to break back before winning the final-leg decider.
Greaves burst into life during the second set - where she averaged over 108 - as she followed a 15-dart leg with a 128 finish on the bullseye to break throw, then delivered a 10-darter to claim a third straight leg and level the match.
A topsy-turvy third set saw Greaves find a 13-dart break but then miss a dart for the set on tops for a 102 finish, allowing Gurney to win the last leg and go within a set of victory, only for the women's No 1 to fire back by racing through the fourth set in straight legs.
Greaves missed a dart to win each of the three legs in that set but responded strongly during the final set, where he pulled momentum back his way with a stunning 144 finish to break and then overcame missing match darts to secure a nervy victory.
"Even from a man's point of view, that woman has some cojones," Gurney added. "What a dart player, honestly what a dart player. Everyone said she was favourite coming into the game but sometimes I show my class and my composure and I got over the finish line.
"The only thing that separated us was the 144. When I went 2-1 up [in the final set] I thought 'don't give her a sniff'. I missed some doubles but fair play to Beau. All this crowd should respect her because next year she's going to be a force to reckon with."
O'Connor delivered a 102.36 average - the highest of this year's tournament so far - in a statement performance during his straight-sets victory over Kciuk, booking a second-round showdown with Michael van Gerwen.
The Irishman produced a stunning 167 checkout in the opening leg, before surviving Kciuk missing a set dart on the bullseye to take the opening set in a final-leg decider. He then raced through the next two sets in consecutive legs to complete an emphatic victory.
"I feel like I've got more to give," O'Connor, who made seven 180s, told Your Site. "I'm very happy with how my doubles went but I know my scoring can go a little bit better, but at the same time I'm very happy with my performance.
"The next game is going to be very, very hard and I know I'm going to have to play at least like that, if not better - I can't have those slack darts. No matter who I'm playing on this stage, it's one of the best players in the world, so bring it on - I'm ready for them!"
Aspinall looked in danger of a shock exit after falling a set behind against Ilagan, in a match where the infamous Ally Pally wasp made multiple appearances, with the Filipino moving back ahead after breaking him again in the third set.
'The Asp' immediately broke back with an 84 finish before taking the set in the deciding leg, then survived two set darts in the fourth set before closing out his victory with a 'Big Fish' finish.
Barry raced through the final match of the evening, dropping just three legs against Pusey and securing a meeting with Martin Schindler in the second round.
Josh Rock booked his place in the second round in the afternoon session after overcoming a late fightback from Gemma Hayter to claim a 3-1 victory.
Rock raced into a two-set advantage but saw Hayter respond by winning the third, with the Englishwoman taking the fourth set to a final-leg decider before the world No 11 closed out victory.
"I was definitely nervous," said Rock, who will now play Joe Comito. "I let off the pedal a wee bit, maybe underestimating her, that's not me being disrespectful, that's just the way I was thinking. I'm a numpty for thinking that way! I will give myself a kick up the backside because I can't do that again."
Ryan Meikle thrashed Argentina's Jesus Salate in straight sets and Kevin Doets claimed a 3-1 win over Matthew Dennant, while Leonard Gates edged out Mickey Mansell in a final-set epic.
Ryan Searle kicks off Saturday's afternoon session when he faces Brendan Dolan, before Andreas Harrysson plays Motomu Sakai, Dirk van Duijvenbode takes on James Hurrell and Dave Chisnall plays Ricardo Pietreczko.
Former world champion Michael Smith opens the evening session against Niels Zonneveld ahead of Chris Dobey playing Andrew Gilding and Stephen Bunting taking on Nitin Kumar.
Jonny Clayton was due to face Dom Taylor in the final match of the day, but the Welshman has received a bye to the third round after .
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live all the way through until Saturday January 3 on Your Site' dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407). .
