A night of major shocks at the double-in, double-out major as defending champion Luke Littler and six-time winner Michael van Gerwen both crashed out in the first round.
Luke Woodhouse produced the biggest upset of the evening, recovering from a set down to beat Littler 2-1 and send the world number one packing.
Ryan Joyce followed it up by dumping van Gerwen out by the same scoreline.
Gerwyn Price was the standout performer with a clinical 2-0 win over debutant Sebastian Bialecki, averaging over 101.
PDC World Grand Prix 2026
Round One
Results (best of 3 sets)
Danny Noppert (88.42) 2-1 Niko Springer (83.58)
(3-0, 2-3, 3-0)
Ross Smith (99.54) 2-1 Cameron Menzies (90.58)
(0-3, 3-2, 3-0)
Nathan Aspinall (89.20) 2-1 Kevin Doets (92.27)
(1-3, 3-2, 3-2)
Jonny Clayton (85.52) 2-1 Krzysztof Ratajski (80.85)
(3-2, 2-3, 3-1)
Gerwyn Price (101.61) 2-0 Sebastian Bialecki (82.88)
(3-0, 3-1)
Ryan Joyce (85.21) 2-1 Michael van Gerwen (87.10)
(2-3, 3-1, 3-1)
Luke Woodhouse (82.51) 2-1 Luke Littler (82.41)
(1-3, 3-2, 3-1)
Wessel Nijman v Rob Cross
Two former champions already gone. The double-start format has claimed its first big scalps of the week.
Full report to follow.
Images: PDC
