Jonny Clayton was taken to the limit by Niels Zonneveld before moving into the last 16 of the PDC World Championship for a fifth successive year.
Clayton had to be somewhere near his best in a nip-and-tuck third-round affair, in which the Welshman moved a set up three times only for Zonneveld to level on each occasion.
But the fifth seed held his nerve to clean sweep the deciding set and claim a 4-3 triumph, where he hit 11 180s and averaged 98.44 to his left-handed Dutch opponent’s 99.36.
Zonneveld had knocked out former world champion Michael Smith to reach this stage and Clayton said afterwards on Sky Sports: “I was thinking ‘Niels, please let me win this, please!'”
CLAYTON WINS A THRILLER!
Jonny Clayton wins the seventh and final set in straight legs to come out 4-3 winner of a fantastic contest against Niels Zonneveld, with both players averaging over 98!
📺 https://t.co/59TualjgND #WCDarts | R3 pic.twitter.com/Fo0ycNtxr0
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 27, 2025
Clayton might be a regular in the fourth round but he has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals at Alexandra Palace and the four-time major winner knows he must improve to break his duck.
He added: “I’m going to prove myself, I’ve had a few down years. Hopefully I’m going the right way. I’m looking forward to every time I walk on this stage and I feel good.
“There’s a lot of loose darts, low scores. I need to get rid of them. You need those two-treble visits and the more I get used to that and keep doing that then it gives me a little bit more of a chance.”
COMEBACK WIN FOR RATAJSKI!
Krzysztof Ratajski delivers another set-winning ton-plus checkout, this time a 116, to come back from 3-1 down and defeat Wesley Plaisier 4-3 in a thrilling contest!
📺 https://t.co/59TualjgND#WCDarts | R3 pic.twitter.com/HhjytDOD60
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 27, 2025
Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski survived three match darts to overcome Gerwyn Price’s conqueror Wesley Plaisier 4-3.
Plaisier went 3-1 up and might have wrapped up victory in the sixth set but could not land the killer blow and Ratajski hit back to record a fine win and set up a showdown against Luke Woodhouse, who was given few problems in beating Andrew Gilding 4-1.
World champion Luke Littler is in action in this evening’s final game. The 18-year-old takes on Mensur Suljovic.
Evening Session (1900)
Round Three
Andreas Harrysson v Ricardo Pietreczko
Stephen Bunting v James Hurrell
Luke Littler in Mensur Suljovic
