2022 Masters: World Champion Peter Wright out in second round

Simon Whitlock lost to Peter Wright 10-8 in the second round at the Masters last year

Newly crowned world champion Peter Wright is out of the Masters in the second round as he was defeated 10-8 by Australian Simon Whitlock.

Whitlock was a late-call up to the tournament, replacing Danny Noppert, who withdrew on 10 January.

It's only the second time Whitlock has reached the Masters' quarter-finals.

Number three seed Michael van Gerwen survived five missed match darts by England's Luke Humphries in a last-leg decider to reach the quarters.

Reigning Masters champion Jonny Clayton will meet his fellow Welshman and world number one Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals.

Wright, 51, led 3-2 at the first interval but soon lost his lead to Whitlock, 52, who broke the two-time world champion in the ninth leg to lead 6-4 at the second interval.

Whitlock broke again in the 13th leg and despite a break back from the Scot in the 16th leg, the Australian missed two match darts at double eight to seal the victory at 9-7.

The two-time world champion Wright took advantage of the mistake to hold his throw but it was not enough as Whitlock won the match in the next leg.

"I made hard work of it in the end but I believed the whole way through I could do it," said Whitlock.

All-Welsh quarter-final

Reigning champion Clayton keeps his title defence on track as he beat Belgium's Dimitri van den Bergh 10-9 in a tense last leg decider.

Both players took out 100+ checkouts early on in the match, Van den Bergh threw a brilliant 170 checkout in the second leg and Clayton took out 101 in the fifth.

The first break of throw didn't happen until the 12th leg when the Welshman took out a 104 checkout to lead 7-5.

It looked like Clayton, from Pontyberem, was cruising to victory at 9-6 but Van den Bergh, 27, rallied back to take the match to a deciding leg.

Clayton, 47, kept his cool in the final leg winning it in 12 darts to reach the quarter-finals.

"It was an especially close game and I'm so pleased to get through. I was expecting a hard game from Dimitri but I've got the win," said the reigning Premier League champion.

Clayton's countryman Price came storming out of the blocks in his second round match against England's Ryan Searle.

The world number one Price, 36, broke 16th seed Searle's throw in the first leg and again in the fifth leg with a huge 164 checkout to led 4-1 at the first interval.

The Players Championship Finals runner-up Searle, 34, broke back to reach 6-5 and despite Price pulling away again, Searle got within a leg of Price who led 9-8.

It was the former world champion who held his throw in the final leg to win 10-8 and set up an all-Welsh quarter-final against his World Cup team-mate Clayton.

In the final match of the evening, Van Gerwen survived a scare to come back from 9-7 down to beat Humphries 10-9.

Van Gerwen, 32, led at 4-3 but Humphries, 26, broke back twice to lead 8-7 and held his throw to move to one leg from victory.

The three-time world champion Van Gerwen, held his throw and broke back as the 2019 world youth champion Humphries missed the crucial match darts to level at 9-9.

The Dutchman held his throw to win the match and will meet Joe Cullen in the quarters.

Anderson and Wade dumped out

Earlier on in the afternoon session, double world champion Gary Anderson and world number four James Wade were the first top seeds to be knocked out in the second round.

Sixth seed Anderson was thrashed 10-1 by Cullen and fourth seed Wade was beaten 10-4 by Dave Chisnall.

It was an impressive performance by Cullen who lost his throw only once in the match, in the third leg.

The Englishman, from Bradford, then went on to win the next seven legs on the bounce and, including three superb successive checkouts - 167 and 142 followed by a 115 out hitting bull, 15, bull - to take the victory with a 106 match average.

"Gary has done me the last two, three, four times I've played him, so to get one over on him, especially on TV whether it be 10-9 or 10-1 like it was, I'm just happy to win," said the 11th seed.

"I'm confident going into tomorrow so I'll see how it goes," added Cullen.

In the final second round match of the afternoon, Wade led 3-2 at the first interval with neither player able to break the other's throw until Chisnall, 41, broke the deadlock in the seventh leg to lead 4-3.

Chisnall, from St Helens, won the next five legs and although Wade held his throw in the 13th leg it was not enough as the number 13 seed booked his quarter-finals spot.

The 2022 World Darts Championship runner-up Michael Smith, 31, continued his good form with a comfortable 10-6 victory over Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski.

England's Smith led 4-1 but the 12th seed Ratajski got back into the match, winning the next three legs to level at 4-4.

Fifth seed Smith regained control, taking a classy 164 checkout to win the 12th leg on his way to victory.

The 2,000-strong crowd were behind Smith, who averaged 105 for the match and will play compatriot Chisnall in the quarter-finals.

Portugal's Jose de Sousa, 47, became the first player to book his place in the quarter-finals as he beat England's Rob Cross 10-7 in the first match of the afternoon.

Cross threw a superb 146 checkout to win the seventh leg and lead 4-3 but missed six darts at double eight in the 10th leg to extend his lead. De Sousa took advantage of the Englishman's error to level at 5-5.

The match levelled again at 6-6, but it was seventh seed De Sousa who pulled away and took out a 122 checkout in the final leg to win.

Sunday's quarter-final session (1245):

Dave Chisnall v Michael Smith

Gerwyn Price v Jonny Clayton

Jose de Sousa v Simon Whitlock

Joe Cullen v Michael van Gerwen