WAYNE MARDLE will meet Adrian Lewis in round three of the Blue Square UK Open on Friday night, after surviving a scare against Gary Welding in his Reebok Stadium opener.
Mardle began his challenge in the event on Thursday night when the tournament kicked off with the opening two rounds in Bolton.
The World Championship semi-finalist trailed Gary Welding 3-1, but took five successive legs to put himself into the last 64, where he meets world number six Lewis.
"I was under pressure with coming into the event so early and I didn't play particularly well early on," said Mardle. "I had a bit of luck and managed to produce my game when I needed to."
Earlier in the tournament, World Ladies Champion Anastasia Dobromyslova went down 6-5 in a thriller against Robert Thornton.
The Russian led 2-1 and pulled back from 4-2 to send the game into a decider, before Thornton took the win.
"I enjoyed it but if I had won it would have been even better," said Dobromyslova, 23. "When I went 2-1 up I thought I'd got him, and I was confident all the way through but in the final leg I was a bit unlucky with my scoring.
"Fair play to Robert, he played well but with a bit more practice I could beat him next time."
The Scot - a former BDO world number one who switched to the PDC recently - also overcame Bob Crawley 6-2 to book his place in the third round on Friday.
Ironically, he drew Dutch youngster Michael van Gerwen in a clash of the current and former World Masters champions.
Raymond van Barneveld begins the defence of his title on Board Two against Tony Ayres, while two-time UK Open winner Phil Taylor takes on John Ferrell.
2004 champion Roland Scholten takes on Mark Walsh, a former Bolton runner-up, and last year's beaten finalist Vincent van der Voort drew in-form Colin Lloyd, the runner-up in last month's PDC US Open.
Teenage sensation Joe Cullen (right) celebrated his debut in a major tournament by dropping just two legs in impressive wins over Mark Stapleton and Dennis Smith after having to battle through two rounds of pub qualifiers to win a place in Bolton.
The 18-year-old postman from Bradford will now meet Chris Mason in round three, and admitted: "I'm speechless to have got through but the bigger the pressure the better I played, and everything's a bonus for me now."
American Gary Mawson defeated Darren Johnson and Mark Frost to reach the last 64 - but breathed a sigh of relief after almost being denied entry to the UK on Tuesday, having left his passport in an airport lounge in New York.
Scott Waites, the BDO number four who won through the Holsten Qualifiers staged in pubs around the UK to join the PDC stars in the event, won three matches to book his place in round three, including 6-0 whitewashes of Scott Mitton and Lee White.
Alan Warriner-Little won the clash of the "Top Gun" movie nicknames in his clash with Tony Mitchell, with "The Iceman" coming out a 6-2 victor against "Maverick".
World Championship runner-up Kirk Shepherd made an impressive start to his bid for further glory, hitting a 158 checkout in his win over Jan van der Rassel, but a 170 finish from former World Champion Steve Beaton was not enough to prevent his 6-4 loss to Matt Clark.
Thornton, Waites and Cullen were among six of the Holsten Qualifiers to progress to the third round, alongside Sam Rooney, Alan Casey and Justin Pipe, who drew world number three James Wade.
Alan Green, a quarter-finalist last year, was a preliminary round casualty to Casey, who also defeated Lee Palfreyman and Dave Johnston to reach the last 64.
York's Paul Cooper celebrated his debut in a major tournament with wins over Michael Barnard, Paul McDine and Spain's Carlos Rodriguez to earn a clash with world number 13 Alan Tabern on Friday.
World Champion John Part will take on Colin Monk in round three, while Kevin Painter's reward for a win over Tony Eccles on Thursday was a clash with Colin Osborne - his rival for a place in the world's top 16 and regular travelling companion on the PDC circuit.
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Blue Square UK Open
Preliminary Round & First Round
Best of 11 legs
Board One
John Kuczynski 5-6 Johnny Haines (P)
Jamie Harvey 6-1 Richie Burnett
Robert Thornton 6-5 Anastasia Dobromyslova
Danny King 1-6 Dennis Priestley
Dave Honey 6-1 Nicky Turner
Board Two
Scott Mitton 0-6 Scott Waites (P)
Alan Caves 3-6 Michael Smith
Gary Mawson 6-5 Darren Johnson
Stuart Pickles 3-6 Dave Johnston
Ian Jopling 6-5 Ken Dobson
Board Three
Mark Jodrill 2-6 Paul Whitworth (P)
Joey Palfreyman 6-1 Mel Davies
Darren Sutton 3-6 Martin Burchell
Dave Harris 6-3 Mick Savvery
Alan Casey 6-4 Lee Palfreyman
Board Four
Paul Knighton 2-6 Nigel Birch (P)
John Quantock 6-4 Gary Noonan
Dan Timmins 6-0 Andrew Callary
David Howells 3-6 Tony Ayres
Chris Hornby 1-6 Darren Webster
Board Five
Nicky Turner 6-3 Gordon Fitzpatrick (P)
Martyn Turner 6-5 Alan Reynolds
Harry Anderson 1-6 Bob Crawley
Adrian Welsh 6-5 Dave Woodwards
Dave Ladley 5-6 Paul Whitworth
Board Six
Alan Casey 6-1 Alan Green (P)
Geoff Harkup 1-6 Tony Mitchell
Paul Cook 4-6 Eddie Lovely
Johnny Haines Bye (Darren Williams withdrawn)
Aaron Turner 3-6 Scott Waites
Board Seven
Michael Barnard 2-6 Paul Cooper (P)
Shane Passey 6-3 Joe Bata
Sean Palfrey 6-5 Jamie Robinson
Ryan Francis 5-6 Lee White
Dale Pinch 1-6 Nigel Birch
Board Eight
Steve Hillier 4-6 Chris Hornby (P)
Joe Cullen 6-0 Mark Stapleton
Sam Rooney 6-1 Richie Corner
Geoff Wylie 4-6 Justin Pipe
Paul Cooper 6-4 Paul McDine
Second Round
Board One
Terry Jenkins 6-0 Joey Palfreyman
Gary Welding 3-6 Wayne Mardle
Kevin Painter 6-2 Tony Eccles
Matt Clark 6-4 Steve Beaton
Board Two
Jan van der Rassel 4-6 Kirk Shepherd
Robert Thornton 6-2 Bob Crawley
Joe Cullen 6-3 Dennis Smith
Paul Cooper 6-1 Carlos Rodriguez
Board Three
John MaGowan Bye (Jimmy Mann withdrawn)
Eddie Lovely 3-6 Sam Rooney
Steve Hine 4-6 Dave Askew
Nigel Birch 6-5 Shane Passey
Board Four
Andy Jenkins 6-1 Michael Smith
Mark Frost 0-6 Gary Mawson
Kevin Dowling 2-6 Dave Honey
Mick McGowan 4-6 Dennis Priestley
Board Five
Steve Evans 6-4 Owen Caffrey
Martin Burchell 4-6 David Platt
Tony Ayres 6-5 Paul Whitworth
Johnny Haines 0-6 Jason Clark
Board Six
Jamie Caven 4-6 Steve Smith
Martyn Turner 6-1 John Quantock
Lee White 0-6 Scott Waites
Steve Maish 6-1 Ian Jopling
Board Seven
Tony Mitchell 2-6 Alan Warriner-Little
Jason Barry 6-5 Adrian Welsh
Darren Webster 5-6 Mark Lawrence
Lionel Sams 2-6 Justin Pipe
Board Eight
Dan Timmins 3-6 John Ferrell
Simon Whatley 6-2 Sean Palfrey
Jamie Harvey 6-4 Dave Harris
Dave Johnston 2-6 Alan Casey
Third Round Draw
Kirk Shepherd v Wayne Jones
Mark Dudbridge v Alan Warriner-Little
Nigel Birch v Dennis Priestley
Tony Ayres v Raymond van Barneveld
Steve Brown v Kevin McDine
Scott Waites v Wayne Atwood
John Magowan v Brendan Dolan
Michael van Gerwen v Robert Thornton
Paul Cooper v Alan Tabern
John Ferrell v Phil Taylor
Mervyn King v Wes Newton
Barrie Bates v Jason Clark
Mark Walsh v Roland Scholten
Matt Clark v Andy Hamilton
Gary Mawson v Alex Roy
Vincent van der Voort v Colin Lloyd
Steve Maish v Denis Ovens
Adrian Lewis v Wayne Mardle
Jelle Klassen v Dave Askew
Peter Manley v Dave Honey
Alan Casey v Jason Barry
Steve Smith v Andy Jenkins
David Platt v Mark Lawrence
Chris Mason v Joe Cullen
Kevin Painter v Colin Osborne
Martyn Turner v Jamie Harvey
Steve Evans v Simon Whatley
John Part v Colin Monk
Andy Smith v Terry Jenkins
James Wade v Justin Pipe
Ronnie Baxter v Sam Rooney
Chris Thompson v Adrian Gray