Cross, who was crowned champion at the 2018 World Cup and is number six this year, defeated his English compatriot Scott Williams 3-1 on his first appearance. In the next round, the 32-year-old will have another English duel with Mervyn King. Jonny Clayton, seeded number seven, didn’t show any weakness either with a 3-0 win over Dutchman Danny van Trijp. The Welshman now meets number 26 Brendan Dolan from Northern Ireland.
On the other hand, there was a premiere for Martin Schindler. The German, number 29, survived a round for the first time in the fourth attempt with a 3:1 win over the Englishman Michael Lukeman in the “Ally Pally”. In the next round, the 26-year-old, who was the first player in the current tournament to score the highest possible finish of 170 points, has a title candidate in two-time runner-up Michael Smith. The “Bully Boy” from England, number four in the tournament, made short work of Nathan Rafferty from Northern Ireland 3-0 in the second round.
The World Cup continues after the Christmas holidays with the first games of the third round on Tuesday. Then, amongst others, Welsh number one Gerwyn Price meets living Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld. Austria’s figurehead Mensur Suljovic’s duel with van Barneveld’s compatriot and three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen is scheduled for Wednesday 28 December.
Darts-WM 2023 in London
| Third round (“best of seven” sets): |
| Gerwyn Price (WAL/1) | Raymond van Barneveld (NED/32) | Tuesday |
| Ryan Searle (ENG/16) | Jose de Sousa (POR/17) | Wednesday |
| Gabriel Clemens (GER/25) | Jim Williams (WAL) | Tuesday |
| Danny Noppert (NED/9) | Alan Soutar (SCO) | Wednesday |
| Michael Smith (ENG/4) | Martin Schindler (GER/29) | Wednesday |
| Joe Cullen (ENG/13) | Damon Heta (AUS/20) | Tuesday |
| Luke Humphries (ENG/5) | Vincent van der Voort (NED/28) | Thursday |
| Dave Chisnall (ENG/12) | Stephen Bunting (ENG/21) | Thursday |
| Peter Wright (SCO/2) | Kim Huybrechts (BEL/31) | Tuesday |
| Dimitri Van den Bergh (BEL/15) | Krzysztof Ratajski (POL/18) | Tuesday |
| Jonny Clayton (WAL/7) | Brendan Dolan (NIR/26) | Tuesday |
| Nathan Aspinall (ENG/10) | Josh Rock (NIR) | Tuesday |
| Mensur Suljovic (AUT/30) | Michael van Gerwen (NED/3) | Wednesday |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED/14) | Ross Smith (ENG/19) | Thursday |
| Rob Cross (ENG/6) | Mervyn King (ENG/27) | Tuesday |
| Gary Anderson (SCO/11) | Chris Dobey (ENG/22) | Wednesday |
| Second round (“best of five” sentences): |
| Gerwyn Price (WAL/1) | Luke Woodhouse (ENG) | 3:1 |
| Raymond van Barneveld (NED/32) | Ryan Meikle (ENG) | 3:1 |
| Ryan Searle (ENG/16) | Adam Gawlas (CZE) | 3:0 |
| Jose de Sousa (POR/17) | Simon Whitlock (AUS) | 3:2 |
| Jim Williams (WAL) | James Wade (ENG/8) | 3:2 |
| Gabriel Clemens (GER/25) | William O’Connor (IRL) | 3:0 |
| Danny Noppert (NED/9) | David Cameron (CAN) | 3:1 |
| Alan Soutar (SCO) | Daryl Gurney (NIR/24) | 3:0 |
| Michael Smith (ENG/4) | Nathan Rafferty (NIR) | 3:0 |
| Martin Schindler (GER/29) | Martin Lukeman (ENG) | 3:1 |
| Joe Cullen (ENG/13) | Ricky Evans (ENG) | 3:1 |
| Damon Heta (AUS/20) | Adrian Lewis (ENG) | 3:0 |
| Luke Humphries (ENG/5) | Florian Hempel (GER) | 3:2 |
| Vincent van der Voort (NED/28) | Cameron Menzies (SCO) | 3:0 |
| Dave Chisnall (ENG/12) | Andrew Gilding (ENG) | 3:1 |
| Stephen Bunting (ENG/21) | Leonard Gates (USA) | 3:1 |
| Peter Wright (SCO/2) | Mickey Mansell (NIR) | 3:0 |
| Kim Huybrechts (BEL/31) | Grant Sampson (RSA) | 3:0 |
| Dimitri Van den Bergh (BEL/15) | Lawrence Ilagan (PHI) | 3:0 |
| Krzysztof Ratajski (POL/18) | Danny Jansen (NED) | 3:1 |
| Jonny Clayton (WAL/7) | Danny van Trijp (NED) | 3:0 |
| Brendan Dolan (NIR/26) | Jimmy Hendriks (NED) | 3:1 |
| Nathan Aspinall (ENG/10) | Boris Krcmar (CRO) | 3:1 |
| Josh Rock (NIR) | Callan Rydz (ENG/23) | 3:0 |
| Michael van Gerwen (NED/3) | Lewy Williams (WAL) | 3:0 |
| Mensur Suljovic (AUT/30) | Mike De Decker (BEL) | 3:0 |
| Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED/14) | Karel Sedlacek (CZE) | 3:2 |
| Ross Smith (ENG/19) | Darius Labanauskas (LIT) | 3:1 |
| Rob Cross (ENG/6) | Scott Williams (ENG) | 3:1 |
| Mervyn King (ENG/27) | Danny Baggish (USA) | 3:2 |
| Gary Anderson (SCO/11) | Madars Razma (LAT) | 3:1 |
| Chris Dobey (ENG/22) | Martijn Tailor (NL) | 3:0 |
| First round (“best of five” sets): |
| Luke Woodhouse (ENG) | Wladislaw Omeltschenko (UKR) | 3:0 |
| Ryan Meikle (ENG) | Lisa Ashton (ENG) | 3:2 |
| Adam Gawlas (CZE) | Richie Burnett (WAL) | 3:2 |
| Simon Whitlock (AUS) | Christian Perez (PHI) | 3:2 |
| Jim Williams (WAL) | Sebastian Bialecki (POL) | 3:2 |
| William O’Connor (IRL) | Beau Greaves (ENG) | 3:0 |
| David Cameron (CAN) | Ritchie Edhouse (ENG) | 3:2 |
| Alan Soutar (SCO) | Mal Cuming (AUS) | 3:0 |
| Nathan Rafferty (NIR) | Jermain Wattimena (NED) | 3:2 |
| Martin Lukeman (ENG) | Nobuhiro Yamamoto (JPN) | 3:0 |
| Ricky Evans (ENG) | Fallon Sherrock (ENG) | 3:1 |
| Adrian Lewis (ENG) | Daniel Larsson (SWE) | 3:0 |
| Florian Hempel (GER) | Keegan Brown (ENG) | 3:2 |
| Cameron Menzies (SCO) | Diogo Portela (BRA) | 3:1 |
| Andrew Gilding (ENG) | Robert Owen (WAL) | 3:2 |
| Leonard Gates (USA) | Geert Nentjes (NL) | 3:1 |
| Mickey Mansell (NIR) | Ben Robb (NZL) | 3:1 |
| Grant Sampson (RSA) | Keane Barry (IRL) | 3:1 |
| Lawrence Ilagan (PHI) | Rowby-John Rodriguez (AUT) | 3:2 |
| Danny Jansen (NED) | Paolo Nebrida (PHI) | 3:2 |
| Danny van Trijp (NED) | Steve Beaton (ENG) | 3:0 |
| Jamie Hughes (ENG) | Jimmy Hendriks (NED) | 1:3 |
| Boris Krcmar (CRO) | Toru Suzuki (JPN) | 3:0 |
| Josh Rock (NIR) | Jose Justicia (ESP) | 3:1 |
| Lewy Williams (WAL) | Niels Zonneveld (NL) | 3:0 |
| Mike De Decker (BEL) | Jeff Smith (CAN) | 3:1 |
| Karel Sedlacek (CZE) | Raymond Smith (AUS) | 3:0 |
| Darius Labanauskas (LIT) | John O’Shea (IRL) | 3:2 |
| Scott Williams (ENG) | Ryan Joyce (ENG) | 3:1 |
| Danny Baggish (USA) | Matt Campbell (CAN) | 3:0 |
| Madars Razma (LAT) | Prakash Jiwa (IND) | 3:1 |
| Martijn Tailor (NL) | Han Xicheng (CHN) | 3:0 |
