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Michael Smith’s alarming run of form continued as he crashed out of the World Championship at the first hurdle in a stunning defeat to Kevin Doets.
Smith’s form has spiralled since he became world champion in 2023 and it hit a new low after Doets won a deciding set tiebreak 6-4 to claim a 3-2 victory.
For Smith, who was seeded second, not only will he be home and out of the competition before Christmas, he will also drop out of the top 10 in the new year.
Doets was able to earn his Ally Pally redemption after losing to Smith in a final-set decider at the same stage 12 months ago.
“Last year I won the bull and he won 3-2. This year he won the bull and so I thought to myself, I’m gonna win it 3-2. But this is the most stressful game I’ve had in my life.
“It was so very tight, but I’m just so happy, to get over the line is amazing. I kept on going and it just to win this game means so much.”
Last year’s semi-finalist Scott Williams got his campaign up and running with a 3-1 win over Niko Springer.
Welshman Nick Kenny had a day to remember as he won on the Ally Pally stage for the first time since 2021.
He beat Stowe Buntz in style, putting the finishing touches on a 3-0 win with a ‘big fish’ 170 checkout.
Matt Campbell also won, beating Mensur Suljovic 3-2.
Earlier in the day Gabriel Clemens became the third seed to fall after being dumped out by Rob Owen.
The 27th seed has followed James Wade and Mike de Decker in losing at the first hurdle after world number 77 Owen won 3-1 in the afternoon session at Alexandra Palace.
Grand Slam finalist Martin Lukeman had to work hard to beat Indian qualifier Nitin Kumar by the same scoreline.
Callan Rydz produced the highest average of the tournament so far with 107.06 to whitewash Romeo Grbavac 3-0, while Hong Kong’s Lok Yin Lee was too good for Chris Landman during his surprise 3-1 win.
