Two-time world champion Gary Anderson crashed out of the World Darts Championship after a shock second-round loss to Jeffrey de Graaf at Alexandra Palace.
Anderson struggled throughout a one-sided contest against his unseeded opponent, winning only two legs and converting just three out of 20 attempts at double on his way to a straight-sets defeat against De Graaf.
De Graaf breezed through the first two sets and broke Anderson again in the next, wrapping up a famous win to book a third-round meeting with Paolo Nebrida after Christmas. De Graaf opened with an 11-dart hold and fired in a Shanghai finish for a second successive ton-plus checkout to break, then responded to a stunning 121 finish and 12-darter from Anderson to wrap up the opening set on D9.
The Swede immediately broke with a 13-darter at the start of the second and capitalised on six missed darts at double from the ‘Flying Scotsman’ in the next to hold throw, with more wayward finishing from Anderson allowing De Graaf to close out the set in the following leg.
A visibly frustrated Anderson ended a run of seven consecutive lost legs with a brilliant 11-darter, with the Scot dragging the third set into a decider after responding to De Graaf winning the third leg by claiming a 14-dart hold of his own.Anderson needed to break the DeGraaf throw in a final-leg decider to extend the contest, but could only watch on as De Graaf took out a 76 finish on D18 to complete an impressive victory.
