James Wade became the highest-ranked player to exit the 2023 PDC World Championship as the No 8 seed was on the end of a shock 3-2 defeat by Jim Williams in the second round.

Williams, 69 places below Wade in the rankings, was made to work hard in a tense final set that the Welshman won with his third attempt at double top. Wade is the first top-10 player to be knocked out of this world championship, while Williams now meets Germany’s Gabriel Clemens in the third round.

Gary Anderson, the two-times former champion, had no such troubles. On his 52nd birthday, Anderson saw off Madars Razma 3-1 in a high-quality encounter – the pair combining for a total of six 100+ checkout finishes across the match.

“I don’t know about this year,” Anderson said on his chances of winning a third world title. “My game is not even close to what it should be. I keep trying, I’m practising a lot more.”

Luke Humphries, the No 5 seed, had to overcome a scare, coming back from two sets down twice to defeat Florian Hempel 3-2. Humphries had no problem with his scoring, hitting seven 180s, but his prowess on the doubles was not at its usual standard until he sneaked through in the final set on double eight.

Dirk van Duijvenbode, the No 14 seed, came through a close encounter 3-2 against Karel Sedlacek. Van Duijvenbode missed a double 12 for what would have been a nine-dart finish but was kept in check by Czech Sedlacek with the Dutch player only winning via a tiebreaker.

Earlier in the afternoon, Mensur Suljovic secured a 3-0 victory against Mike De Decker that sets up a third-round tie against Michael van Gerwen. Krzysztof Ratajski defeated Danny Jansen 3-1 to begin the day’s play, and Ryan Searle won 3-0 against Adam Gawlas. Later on, Vincent van der Voort comfortably defeated Cameron Menzies 3-0 to finish the evening session.