AARON DYER and Paul Milford shared victories on the opening day of the 2017 PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour in Milton Keynes.

Gloucestershire-based Dyer, 24, followed up his win on the PDC Unicorn Development Tour in 2015 by taking victory on his Challenge Tour debut as he claimed the opening £2,000 title of the year.

After starting the day with a whitewash of Daniel Russell, Dyer battled past Ricky Nathan, Jamie Kelling and Gary Stone before seeing off former TV finalists Wayne Jones and Barrie Bates to reach the semi-finals.

There, he saw off Jason Lovett 5-3, before sweeping past Mark Frost 5-1 in the final.

Frost - a World Championship qualifier last year - defeated Allan Edwards, Nick Fullwell, Ryan Murray, Luke Woodhouse, Jim Walker and Alan Tabern in his run to the final, and took home £1,000 as runner-up.

Bates and Walker were joined in the quarter-finals by Welsh youngster Kurt Parry and former Challenge Tour event winner Martin Lukeman, while South Africa's Warrick Scheffer was amongst the last 16 losers.

Event Two saw Devon's Paul Milford claim victory as he bounced back from a first round loss in Event One to go all the way to the £2,000 title.

The 40-year-old overcame Joshua Richardson, Jim Moston, Scheffer, Keith Arber, Brett Claydon, Pete Dyos and Tabern, before whitewashing Lukeman 5-0 in the final.

Lukeman followed up his earlier quarter-final appearance with victories over Barry Lynn - the 2016 UK Open quarter-finalist - Brian Hallas, Jim Walker, Ian Jones, Joey Palfreyman, Ryan Murray and Mike Norton.

Tabern won through to his second semi-final of the day in another strong showing, with Norton also progressing to the last four as he included former ProTour event winner Steve Brown amongst his victims.

Reigning Lakeside Women's Champion Lisa Ashton made her Challenge Tour debut on Saturday, but lost out to Alex Roy and Scott Marsh respectively as she suffered two first round exits.

The PDC Unicorn Challenge Tour weekend continues on Sunday with Event Three and Event Four at Arena MK in Milton Keynes, with a further £20,000 in prize money on offer.