World Darts Championship: Michael van Gerwen overcomes brilliant Cristo Reyes

Cristo Reyes produced a phenomenal display against the PDC title favourite

World number one Michael van Gerwen survived a second-round scare against 32nd seed Cristo Reyes to reach the PDC World Darts Championship last 16.

The pre-tournament odds-on favourite was cruising at 3-1 before the Spaniard fought back with brilliant darts and looked set to level the scores.

Reyes lost 4-2 but finished with an average of 106.07 - the highest for a losing player in tournament history.

Earlier, fourteen-time champion Phil Taylor beat Kevin Painter 4-0.

"It was winning ugly - it wasn't the best game in the world," Taylor said after the scrappy encounter.

Van Gerwen now plays Darren Webster for a place in the quarter-finals.

The Dutchman paid tribute to Reyes: "He played phenomenally- I've never seen him play this well.

"He gave me more game than Taylor and [world champion] Gary Anderson."

Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld dropped only two legs on his way to a 4-0 victory over England's Alan Norris.

"I feel comfortable and confident. When you feel like that, you can beat all of them," the 2007 champion said.

Earlier, two-time PDC semi-finalist Mark Webster survived a fightback from Austrian eighth seed Mensur Suljovic to progress.

Webster led 3-1 but was forced into a decider by Suljovic, who was a European Championship finalist in October.

Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney recorded a 4-3 win over Scottish ninth seed Robert Thornton and Dave Chisnall beat Chris Dobey 4-2 in an all-England clash.