Defending champion Luke Littler suffered a shock first-round exit at the World Grand Prix as he lost out 2-1 to Luke Woodhouse, on the same night six-time winner Michael van Gerwen was also eliminated in Leicester.
Littler took the opening set, but was far from his best as Woodhouse spurned several chances at double to have taken it into a deciding leg.
But Woodhouse made no mistake in sets two and three to pull off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.
Van Gerwen dumped out but Price, Clayton win
Elsewhere, not only were Van Gerwen’s hopes of a seventh Grand Prix crown dashed but he suffered a third-straight first-round exit in the tournament as Ryan Joyce came back from a set down to defeat the Dutchman.
Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, winners of the Grand Prix in 2020 and 2021 respectively, also progressed, with Price putting in the performance of the night as he dropped only one leg in beating Sebastian Bialecki.
Clayton, meanwhile, was made to work much harder by Krzysztof Ratajski, one of six matches (out of eight) to go the distance on the opening night.
Cameron Menzies and Kevin Doets both missed match darts when losing out to Ross Smith and Nathan Aspinall, respectively.
Both had chances to wrap up two-set victories, but Menzies missed two looks at tops before Smith swept him aside 3-0 in the deciding set, while Doets miss three spurned three three match darts – including a wild miss at bullseye – and Aspinall would ultimately win a last-leg decider in the third set.
Danny Noppert came flying out of the blocks to open the night, claiming consecutive legs before Niko Springer, out of nowhere, claimed the next three to take the second set, before normal service resumed in the third.
Monday’s first-round results
First to two sets
- Danny Noppert 2-1 Niko Springer
- Ross Smith 2-1 Cameron Menzies
- Nathan Aspinall 2-1 Kevin Doets
- Jonny Clayton 2-1 Krzysztof Ratajski
- Gerwyn Price 2-0 Sebastian Bialecki
- Michael van Gerwen 1-2 Ryan Joyce
- Luke Littler 1-2 Luke Woodhouse
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