De Decker stunned by Woodhouse at World Championship

Luke Woodhouse could face Australian Damon Heta in the third round

World Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker suffered a surprise defeat to Luke Woodhouse in the second round of the PDC World Championship.

Belgium's De Decker, the 24th seed, was considered an outside contender for the title, but was beaten 3-1 by the English world number 35.

Earlier Kevin Doets survived a first-round scare to win 3-1 against Noa-Lynn van Leuven, whose appearance meant she was the first transgender player to compete in the tournament.

Woodhouse, 36, averaged 88.38 and hit nine of his 22 attempts at doubles to take the victory at Alexandra Palace in London.

"The performance wasn't very good but the win is incredible. I felt really good to start with, I started off really well, then I went two sets up and I started to think about it a little bit," he told Sky Sports.

"He didn't play anywhere near where he can do so I'll take the win all day long."

Woodhouse will play Australian Damon Heta or England's Connor Scutt in the third round.

De Decker is the second seed to exit following 16th seed James Wade's loss to Jermaine Wattimena on Monday.

Doets will face 2023 champion Michael Smith next after beating his Dutch compatriot Van Leuven.

"It was very tough, especially at the beginning. She played better than I did at the beginning. It was really hard," Doets said after coming from a set behind.

Van Leuven showed no nerves as she took the opening set, including a 120 checkout.

But she lost the second set after missing several chances at double with the scores at 1-1, before Doets finally sealed an extraordinary leg on double one after 33 darts.

It proved a turning point as Doets took charge, although Van Leuven hit six 180s in all, including two in the fourth leg of the second set before missing treble 20 when on a potential nine-darter.

Doets averaged 88.13 to his opponent's 87.02 as he sealed his place in the second round.

Assessing the marathon leg, Doets told Sky Sports: "Every World Championship, there is a leg like that. I was unfortunate to have it today. It was tough. That leg and every single leg I was fighting, fighting, fighting."

Van Leuven took the first set before Doets fought back

Van Leuven was one of two qualifiers for the World Championship from the Women's Series, alongside Fallon Sherrock.

The Dutch player became the first transgender woman to take part in a televised PDC tournament when she lost 5-0 to Michael van Gerwen at the Grand Slam of Darts last month.

Van Leuven has said she transitioned about 10 years ago. She had played darts from the age of 12 but took a break from the game before returning about four years ago, and joined the Women's Series in 2022.

Darts Regulation Authority rules allow transgender players in women's events provided their testosterone levels are below a certain mark, although some social media users have been critical of her taking one of the female qualification spots.

PDC president Barry Hearn has supported the guidelines, telling BBC Sport: "If there are no obvious athletic advantages, I don't see why they shouldn't compete in these sports on level terms."

Van Leuven has called for people to "respect each other" but said she received death threats after Dutch players Anca Zijlstra and Aileen de Graf quit the Netherlands women's team earlier this year because they did not want to play alongside her.

Tuesday afternoon's results

First round

James Hurrell 3-0 Jim Long

Kevin Doets 3-1 Noa-Lynn van Leuven

Ryan Joyce 3-1 Darius Labanauskas

Second round

Mike de Decker 1-3 Luke Woodhouse