James Hurrell is hoping to break new ground at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship, as he takes on Ryan Searle for a place in the quarter-finals on Monday.
The 41-year-old averaged 98 in his round three victory over former semi-finalist Stephen Bunting, defeating the world number four in a deciding-set thriller on the Alexandra Palace stage.
Hurrell declared post-match that he feels assured in his game and has no fear in taking on anybody in the tournament.
“I wasn’t nervous,” the Englishman insisted.
“I knew where my game was coming into the game. I just need to sort my doubles out a bit, and I’m confident I’m not going anywhere.
“I should’ve won 4-0 to be fair. It’s just a bit of hard work with doubles, like I keep saying about my game, doubles. I should have won 4-0.
“I just knew to concentrate, don’t go anywhere. I’ve got a different mindset nowadays.
“I felt relaxed. I’m not feeling any nerves or anything. I’m just so confident in my game.”
Hurrell, who claimed his PDC Tour Card in 2024, put Bunting under immense pressure on Saturday to take out five 100+ checkouts, including 121 and 161 checkouts in set deciders.
The man nicknamed ‘Hillbilly’ explained how that added to his already high-confidence going forward.
“The whole of my game was important to beating Stephen,” Hurrell acknowledged.
"The scoring, the doubles - if I’m not on point with any of them, you get beaten. He’s number four in the world; he’s amazing; he’s a great player.
“I didn’t feel any negative thoughts, just ‘Come on, James, let’s go again.’
“There was definitely something coming out of Stephen winning a leg. I put him under pressure to produce those big outshots.
“It made me feel more confident. I was putting him under pressure, so I was doing something right.”
Hurrell will return to Alexandra Palace tonight to take on world number 20 Ryan Searle, who is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament.
Searle has reached the last 16 on three previous occasions, but hasn’t yet found his way to the quarter-finals in the sport’s flagship event.
The Somerset star averaged 102.29 in his straight-sets demolition of Martin Schindler in round three, but is expecting a tough task against the ‘fantastic’ Hurrell.
“I was keeping my eye on that match a little bit,” claimed Searle, who also overcame Chris Landman and Brendan Dolan earlier in the event.
“If you can average 98 over seven sets, that’s a really high standard. You need to play well to try to beat that.
“If it wasn’t for the 121 and 161, I think he would’ve won that game pretty comfortably.
“I know I’m going to have to play well to win the next game, and I think for both of us it’s the biggest game in our careers so far.”
The Paddy Power World Darts Championship is being 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).
2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship
Monday December 29
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
Round Three
Justin Hood v Ryan Meikle
Ricky Evans v Charlie Manby
Nathan Aspinall v Kevin Doets
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
Round Three x1
Josh Rock v Callan Rydz
Round Four x2
James Hurrell v Ryan Searle
Luke Littler v Rob Cross
Best of Seven Sets