• PDC World Championship

Petersen shocks Pipe, Newton cruises past Thornton

Devon Petersen reached the PDC World Championship third round for the first round in his career © Getty Images

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Qualifier Devon Petersen continued a dream return to darts after defeating Justin Pipe to reach the PDC World Championship third round for the first time in his career.

Petersen, who recently spent a year out of action recovering from an arm injury, saw off the 11th seed with a superb 4-1 victory at Alexandra Palace.

The South African rallied after edging a tight first set, before firing in a brilliant 121 checkout to establish a comfortable 2-0 lead. However, Pipe responded with three consecutive legs to pull a set back.

With Pipe poised on 36 to level the match, Petersen finished a magnificent 130 finish on the bullseye to claim the deciding leg in the fourth and quickly finished the Taunton ace off in the fifth.

"The 130 finish to win the fourth set and go 3-1 up was really big for me," Petersen told PDC.tv. "I'd missed a chance to win the set earlier on the double seven, and I thought for a couple of legs that I'd let Justin off, but that finish really stopped him in his tracks.

"I appreciate the crowd and I try to give them a show. To beat players like Steve Beaton and Justin on the biggest stage in darts is huge for me, as my expectations were very low entering the competition."

Wes Newton showed his world title credentials with an impressive 4-1 win over in-form ninth seed Robert Thornton.

Newton clinched a close first set on double 10 in the deciding leg, before winning three straight legs to move into a 2-0 lead.

Two more legs put the Fleetwood ace in firm control but Thornton ended the rot with a clinical 136 checkout. That shifted the momentum towards the Thorn, who came back to take the set and move within one.

However, world number eight Newton was not fazed as he brilliantly set up crucial finishes which quickly restored his two-set advantage within three legs of the fourth set. Newton almost finished in style with a maximum 170 finish only to miss the bull - but he returned to take out 25 and claim a brilliant victory.

"It's great to be through to my third World Championship quarter-final in the space of four years," Newton said. "Robert didn't really turn up today and missed a number of double opportunities, but I did my job and it's great to be through.

"I feel I've got a great opportunity now to go even further in this tournament and I've got lots of determination to achieve big things."

Elsewhere, Ian White came back from 3-1 down to send Richie Burnett crashing out of the tournament with a 4-3 win.

In a high quality game, Burnett capitalised on White's lack of early rhythm to take the first before a 128 checkout helped the Stoke ace level the match.

Burnett won the third without reply, before edging a tense fourth set to move within one of the quarter-final. However, White struck back with a simply brilliant barrage of tungsten - including fine finishes of 111 and 101 - to claim three straight sets and book his place in the last eight.

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