BDO World Championships: Scott Waites beats Sam Hewson

Scott Waites won the World Championship in 2013

Scott Waites survived a scare from 21-year-old debutant Sam Hewson to reach round two of the BDO World Championships at Lakeside.

Waites, the champion in 2013, lost to Alan Norris in the first round last year and looked set for a similar fate when Hewson took the first set.

But the 37-year-old Yorkshireman fought back to win in a deciding set.

Darryl Fitton, the 15th seed from Manchester, and Ross Montgomery also booked their spots in the last 16.

Fitton won seven successive legs as he coasted to a 3-0 win over Paul Jennings, while Scotland captain and 11th seed Montgomery came through 3-1 against Pip Blackwell.

There were preliminary-round victories for England's Brian Dawson, Karel Sedlacek of the Czech Republic and Canada's Jeff Smith.

In the women's competition, three-time winning Russian Anastasia Dobromyslova and Sharon Prins (Netherlands) made it through to the quarter-finals.

Hewson, cheered on by a significant and vociferous following from his native Lincolnshire, made a blistering start to the final game of day two, hitting a maximum and a 106 checkout in the first leg and clinching the first set with double three.

Waites took the next two to go 2-1 up and missed a dart at the bull for the match, allowing Hewson to force a decider.

But the sixth seed held his nerve to achieve his first win on the Lakeside stage since thrashing Tony O'Shea 7-1 in the 2013 final.

"There were a couple of sloppy darts but, in between, my darts were fantastic," Waites, who is nursing a shoulder injury, told BT Sport. "That's the best I've played for months.

"I'm quite happy with that and if I can do that for the next few rounds, you never know."