Luke Littler started his title defence in style with a 3-0 victory over Darius Labanauskas, as Michael Smith also progressed with a straight-sets win on the opening night of the Paddy Power World Darts Championship.
Littler, who walked out at Alexandra Palace as reigning World Champion and world number one for the first time, produced a statement display with a 101 average in his whitewash win over Labanauskas.
The 18-year-old edged through a last-leg decider in the opening set with a clutch 76 checkout to break and lead the match, before winning another set-deciding shootout to take a 2-0 advantage.
Labanauskas kept pace throughout the match and averaged over 95 in a valiant performance, but Littler maintained composure and took out checkouts of 124 and 120 in the final set to win in commanding fashion.
“I’m very happy with the performance,” affirmed Littler, who will play against Mario Vandenbogaerde or David Davies in round two.
“When I woke up this morning, I was excited. It felt very special to be back.
“This was my first ever PDC tournament, so I have a lot of memories here.
“A win is a win and that’s the hardest game out of the way.”
Smith, who lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy three years ago, also produced a dominant performance to quash Lisa Ashton 3-0 and advance to round two.
Despite a nervy start in the opening set, the 2022/23 World Champion took out a 15-darter to take a 1-0 set lead, before breezing through the next two sets to win 3-0 and reach the second round.
“I’m happy to win,” said Smith, who was knocked out in his opening match of last year’s World Darts Championship.
“I stepped up when I needed to so I’ll take that as a positive. To come back for the second round is amazing.
“I told myself, ‘I’ve won this tournament before’. Coming into the next game, hopefully I can step up and start the way I finished the match.”
Elsewhere, debutant Arno Merk impressively saw off Kim Huybrechts 3-1 in the opening match of the tournament.
The German won five consecutive legs in a relentless early spell to take a commanding 2-0 lead over Huybrechts, before sealing the game 3-1 with a nerveless display.
“I’m feeling overwhelmed, I’m so happy,” confessed Merk, who won the PDC Europe Super League to qualify for his first World Darts Championship.
“I wasn’t that nervous, I don’t know why. I thought at Ally Pally I would be nervous, but I wasn’t.
“I’m so excited to play again on this stage.”
Madars Razma also advanced to round two, fending off debutant Jamai van den Herik with a 3-1 victory.
The Latvian won the first set which included legs of 11 and 13 darts, before closing out the match to set up a round two tie against Dimitri Van den Bergh or Darren Beveridge.
Day Two of the World Darts Championship sees more top names enter the fray, with former World Champion Rob Cross beginning his campaign against Cor Dekker in the showpiece match of the afternoon session.
In the evening session, European Champion Gian van Veen locks horns with Spanish star Cristo Reyes and Australian number one Damon Heta takes on Steve Lennon.
The 2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
Click here for live scores, match stats & results.
2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship
Thursday December 11
Round One
Arno Merk 3-1 Kim Huybrechts (3-2, 3-0, 1-3, 3-0)
Michael Smith 3-0 Lisa Ashton (3-2, 3-0, 3-1)
Luke Littler 3-0 Darius Labanauskas (3-2, 3-2, 3-1)
Madars Razma 3-1 Jamai van den Herik (3-2, 2-3, 3-1, 3-2)
Friday December 12
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
Round One
Niels Zonneveld v Haupai Puha
Ian White v Mervyn King
Ryan Searle v Chris Landman
Rob Cross v Cor Dekker
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Round One
Ross Smith v Andreas Harrysson
Ricky Evans v Man Lok Leung
Gian van Veen v Cristo Reyes
Damon Heta v Steve Lennon
Best of Five Sets