Dave Chisnall opened the night against Stowe Buntz, with his opponent surprisingly winning his first two matches and already through, while Chisnall was yet to record a victory.

Chisnall led 3-0 effortlessly, but then ran into trouble when he was broken in leg five to make it 3-2.

At 4-2, the Englishman failed to hit 60 out with six darts and saw Buntz come back to 4-3.

In the end, Chisnall won 5-4 by throwing out tops to seal his first victory of the tournament. 

Nathan Aspinall and Ricardo Pietreczko followed, with the latter winning that match 5-4.

Van Gerwen wins

Michael van Gerwen and Martijn Kleermaker did not fare much better.

The 34-year-old, who was already into the knockout stage, was too strong in a 5-4 triumph.

Van Gerwen immediately lost his first leg after a couple of misses and found himself at a 2-0 deficit moments later.

The world number 3 picked up the following leg but continued to struggle to hit the doubles.

Kleermaker made it 4-2 and needed one more leg for the win but, Van Gerwen came back again to seal victory.

Noppert advances

Danny Noppert also reached the last sixteen as group winner.

The 32-year-old won his third match in the group against Northern Irishman Brendan Dolan.

Noppert turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead and could have finished the match at 4-2 in his own leg, but saw Dolan equalise again.

The world number 7 still won in the end by throwing out bull's eye in the decisive leg, 5-4.

Andrew Gilding won easily to finish second in the group, beating Haruki Muramatsu 5-1 .

Stephen Bunting and Peter Wright played a straight duel for the knockout stage.

Bunting was much better and won easily 5-3.

With a double break in legs three and five, he managed to lead 4-1 before Wright broke back in the sixth leg, but could not prevent Bunting from finishing 5-3 to take second place in the group. 

Rob Cross and Fallon Sherrock found themselves in a similar situation.

Sherrock broke immediately in the first leg, but could not push through after that.

Cross broke in legs two and four before going on to secure a 5-2 win.

With an average of almost 100 he was just too much for Sherrock and finished second behind Van Gerwen.

Greaves misses matchdart

The last match was between Beau Greaves and Damon Heta and again a place in the play-offs was at stake.

In a nerve-wracking match, Greaves had a matchdart at 4-3, but she missed the double 16.

Heta won the eighth leg and in the ninth, in which Greaves had started, the pressure got too high and she eventually lost.

Heta threw his third barrel plus finish and won the match 5-4.