DAWSON MURSCHELL shocked James Wade on the opening day of the partypoker U.S. Darts Masters and Dave Richardson knocked out Max Hopp as Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson also progressed with whitewash wins.
Canadian youngster Murschell overcame big-stage nerves to beat James Wade 6-5, with the left-hander missing six match darts in a dramatic deciding leg at the Tropicana Las Vegas.
The 21-year-old had made his TV debut in Thursday's North American Championship, and announced his talent to a worldwide audience by seeing off the world number six.
With the match on throw going in to the fourth leg, Murschell took out 92 on double 18 to take a 3-1 lead.
In characteristic style, Wade fought back to level at three-all, taking out 108 in the process, and the pair then traded holds of throw as the match moved in to a deciding 11th leg.
Wade left 40 with Murschell back on 78, but subsequently missed three at tops to win the match.
The Canadian then failed to give himself a shot at a double from 78, seemingly handing the match to Wade.
The 34-year-old then missed another three darts for victory, allowing Murschell to come back and seal the win on tops.
“This is incredible, I don't have many words to describe this," said Murschell. "It's what I've dreamed of since I was 13, playing someone like James on stage.
"I still can't believe James missed that many darts. There's so much more to come from me and I loved every minute of that!"
Murschell will now face Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals on Saturday, after the Welshman survived a scare against North American Championship winner Willard Bruguier in Las Vegas.
Price started the match slowly with the American moving in to a 3-1 lead, but three legs on the spin pushed the UK Open finalist in to a 4-3 lead before Bruguier levelled again.
Price found double eight to move within a leg of the quarter-finals, before sealing the deal in the next leg, with Bruguier missing two darts to force a decider.
Canada's Dave Richardson bounced back from the disappointment of his loss to Bruguier in the North American Championship final by stunning World Series debutant Max Hopp 6-3 to join Murschell in the last eight.
Richardson started in style by taking out 121 in the opening leg to hold throw, and a swift break followed with German youngster Hopp struggling to cope with the nerves.
Richardson kept Hopp at arms leg throughout, hitting six of his ten attempts at doubles to progress in to the quarter-finals where World Champion Michael van Gerwen awaits.
Van Gerwen was in a ruthless mood as he whitewashed Chris White with a 104 average in their clash.
The world number one finished the match in style taking out 132 with a crowd-pleasing bull, bull, double 16 combination to begin his bid for back-to-back World Series titles in style.
Ruthless Van Gerwen - last week's Shanghai Darts Masters winner - admitted: "I can only worry about myself, I don’t think about my opponent if I can help it. If I play as well as I can then I will win."
May's Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters champion Gary Anderson followed Van Gerwen's lead and matched him for quality levels as well as he moved through to Saturday's final day.
The world number two averaged over 102 as he whitewashed Jayson Barlow to set up a last eight meeting with Raymond van Barneveld, who claimed the spoils when they met a week ago.
"Barney beat me in Shanghai, so hopefully I can get one back over on him tomorrow," said Anderson. "We came to Vegas seven years ago and it was nothing like this. The crowd have been amazing."
Van Barneveld's participation in the final day of action was confirmed as he beat David Cameron 6-3.
Peter Wright progressed after a slow start to beat Shawn Brenneman 6-3 to set up a quarter-final encounter with Daryl Gurney.
Wright was punished for a sloppy start as Brenneman took a 3-1 lead in the early stages of the match.
The Canadian missed two darts at tops to take a 4-2 lead and was punished in the most brutal of ways as Wright went on to win the next four legs to confirm the victory.
World Series debutant Daryl Gurney will face Wright after he progressed to the quarter-finals with a 6-2 win over Dennis Sayre.
The Northern Irish ace averaged 98.58 and hit a 154 finish as he moved in to the last eight in his first World Series event.
The final day of action from the Tropicana Las Vegas - A Doubletree by Hilton will take place on Saturday as the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final will be played in front of a sell-out crowd.
US COVERAGE IS THROUGH FOX SPORTS. UK COVERAGE IS LIVE ON ITV4 FROM 8PM BST. FANS CAN ALSO WATCH IN PDCTV-HD OUTSIDE OF THE UK, IRELAND & NETHERLANDS.
FOLLOW LIVE STATS IN THE MATCH CENTRE AT THIS LINK.
U.S. Darts Masters
Draw Bracket
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Chris White
Max Hopp v Dave Richardson
James Wade (4) v Dawson Murschell
Gerwyn Price v Willard Bruguier
Gary Anderson (2) v Jayson Barlow
Raymond van Barneveld v David Cameron
Peter Wright (3) v Shawn Brenneman
Daryl Gurney v Dennis Sayre
Friday July 14 (12pm local time, 8pm BST)
First Round
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Dennis Sayre
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Willard Bruguier
Dave Richardson 6-3 Max Hopp
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 David Cameron
Dawson Murschell 6-5 James Wade
Peter Wright 6-3 Shawn Brenneman
Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Chris White
Gary Anderson 6-0 Jayson Barlow
Best of 11 legs
Order of Play
Saturday July 15 (12pm local time, 8pm BST)
Quarter-Finals
Dawson Murschell v Gerwyn Price
Michael van Gerwen v Dave Richardson
Gary Anderson v Raymond van Barneveld
Peter Wright v Daryl Gurney
Semi-Finals
Van Gerwen/Richardson v Murschell/Price
Anderson/Van Barneveld v Wright/Gurney
Final
v
All matches best of 15 legs
TV Information
PDCTV-HD for Rest of the World Subscribers (outside of UK, Ireland and Netherlands)
Fox Sports - USA
ITV4 - UK live at 8pm
Setanta - Ireland
RTL7 - Netherlands
CCTV - China
Fox Sports - Australia
Sky - New Zealand
OSN - Middle East & North Africa
DAZN - Germany & Japan
Fox Asia
Kwese - South Africa & Sub-Sahara Africa
Viasat - Scandinavia
Nova - Czech Republic