• BDO World Championship

Fitton knocks out top seed Bunting

Darryl Fitton upset the odds to beat No. 1 seed Stephen Bunting in the second round (file photo) © PA Photos

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Bottom seed Darryl Fitton made a mockery of the BDO World Championship's pre-tournament rankings as he beat No. 1 seed Stephen Bunting to reach the quarter-finals.

Two-time semi-finalist Fitton beat "The Bullet" 4-2 and had to weather a period of supreme darts from Bunting.

Fitton took the first set 3-2 but then Bunting took over to win the first leg of the second set in only 12 darts and soon followed that up with a 167 checkout - the highest of the tournament so far.

Although Bunting capitalised on his purple patch, which featured an average of 106 during the second set, to take a 2-1 lead, "The Dazzler" Fitton kept his form into the fourth set.

But Bunting still looked odds on to win that set when faced with an 80 to checkout. But the 27-year-old missed five darts in a row and Fitton engineered a double to level the match at 2-2.

Fitton then scored his top checkout of the tournament with a 116 to win his fourth successive leg and stretch out a 2-0 lead and that formed the basis for him to win the set.

The 50-year-old did not stop there either and put himself within touching distance of victory by going two legs up again. He saw himself home by taking his second chance at double 14 to win the last leg and secure a 3-1 final set victory.

England's Robbie Green continued his good form at the oche by beating Scott Mitchell 4-1 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Green, known as Kong, downed the reigning champion Christian Kist from the Netherlands in the first round. And he had no problem in seeing away his compatriot Mitchell, who was competing in the second round for the first time in his career.

Mitchell, aka Scotty Dog, took too long to find his form and although he did win the fourth set he was already 3-0 down by that stage. He did take the upper hand in the fifth set to go one leg up, and then 2-1 up, but Green broke back to win his fourth set 3-2.

Wesley Harms took all seven sets available to beat Alan Norris 4-3 in the tightest encounter of the round so far. The match-up was always likely to be close with the Dutchman, as the eighth seed, playing the ninth seeded Englishman.

Despite two classy checkouts in the first set, from 125 and then 121, Harms still saw himself at an early disadvantage of two sets down as Norris looked to have the 28-year-old in his pocket.

The 40-year-old won the first 3-2 and the second 3-1 but fell apart in the third and went down 3-0, with Harms scoring a 150 checkout in the third leg.

After going 2-0 down in the fourth set, Norris stopped the rot to draw level with Harms at 2-2. In the deciding leg Harms missed nine set darts but Norris still could not check out and at the tenth time of asking Harms converted on a double one to draw the match level at 2-2.

Harms was not so lax in the fifth set as he closed it out with his second opportunity at a double. But Norris reacted well to going behind for the first time in the match and ensured the match would go down to the wire by drawing matters level at 3-3.

Both players broke each other at the beginning of the final set but it was the younger man who held his form through to the end.

Two-time runner up Tony O'Shea beat Steve Douglas, who suffered a heart attack less than a month ago, as he exhibited his title credentials during a 4-1 win.

O'Shea's performance included winning nine straight legs and he will play Robbie Green in the next round.

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