Two-time winner Peter Wright crashed out in straight sets on a night of history at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship.
Wright, a World Championship winner in 2020 and 2022 – , as Luke Littler who stole the headlines at Alexandra Palace on Wednesday.
Wright became the biggest name to crash out of the tournament on an action-packed Day Six, after suffering his earliest exit at the World Championship since 2018/19.
Williams delivered a crushing 124 checkout on the bull to win a tightly-contested opening set, which prompted a change of darts from the Scot at the first interval.
The Scot’s woes were compounded when he squandered seven darts to restore parity in a dramatic second set, and Williams capitalised with a clean sweep in the third to ease through to the last 32.
“It was tough to see Peter struggling up there,” conceded Williams, who dumped out James Wade at the same stage of last year’s event.
“It’s a weird feeling. Obviously you want to win, but it’s difficult, because you’re playing somebody you normally watch and you don’t want to see them suffer.
“I’ve had two strange games so far. My focus has been terrible, but sometimes when the pressure is on you your focus is better, so hopefully there is more in the tank.”
2023/24 Paddy Power World Darts Championship
Wednesday December 20
Afternoon Session
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Radek Szaganski 3-2 Marko Kantele (3-1, 2-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-0) (R1)
Steve Lennon 3-2 Owen Bates (1-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-1, 3-1) (R1)
William O’Connor 3-0 Bhav Patel (3-0, 3-0, 3-0) (R1)
Ross Smith 3-1 Niels Zonneveld (3-0, 3-2, 2-3, 3-1) (R2)
Evening Session
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Ryan Joyce 3-1 Alex Spellman (0-3, 3-2, 3-1, 3-0) (R1)
Richard Veenstra 3-0 Ben Robb (3-2, 3-1, 3-2) (R1)
Luke Littler 3-0 Christian Kist (3-0, 3-1, 3-1) (R1)
Jim Williams 3-0 Peter Wright (3-2, 3-2, 3-0) (R2)
Thursday December 21
Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)
2x First Round, 2x Second Round
Mickey Mansell v Xiaochen Zong (R1)
Luke Woodhouse v Berry van Peer (R1)
Madars Razma v Mike De Decker (R2)
Rob Cross v Thibault Tricole (R2)
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
4x Second Round
Andrew Gilding v Luke Littler (R2)
Danny Noppert v Scott Williams (R2)
Gabriel Clemens v Man Lok Leung (R2)
Damon Heta v Martin Lukeman (R2)
—–ENDS—–
Images: Simon O’Connor/ PDC
