Rob Cross appears to make an obscene gesture midway through his World Darts Championship clash with Scott Williams at Ally Pally – before later going on to lose second-round tie
- Rob Cross lost 3-1 to Scott Williams in the second round of the Ally Pally
- Cross was seen making an apparently rude gesture to the crowd
2018 champion Rob Cross was knocked out of the World Darts Championship in the second round and appeared to make an obscene gesture to the crowd during the defeat.
The fifth seed was beaten 3-1 by last year’s semi-finalist Scott Williams, who will now face German Ricardo Pietreczko in round three.
Cross joined a growing list of high-ranking players forced to make an early exit from this year’s tournament.
His defeat means a record 14 seeds are out of the second round.
And he was clearly far from happy when he left the stage for a short break after one of the sets.
WARNING: RUDE CONTENT
Cross took the first set against compatriot Williams – a surprising semi-finalist for Ally Pally twelve months ago – but after that ‘Voltage’ had little power.
Williams rolled out the next three sets as a grueling evening session ended less than 20 minutes before midnight.
Meanwhile, Ricky Evans survived a match dart against him to upset sixth seed Chisnall in an epic second-round clash decided by sudden death leg.
Jonny Clayton won a sudden death leg in the deciding set to pass Mickey Mansell and book his place in the third round.
Clayton meets Daryl Gurney next after the Northern Irishman came from behind to beat Florian Hempel 3-2 in a pulsating match.
Gurney, the No. 26 seed, leveled the match with a 156 checkout and recovered from 2-1 down after Hempel claimed a whitewash in the third set.
Hempel’s compatriot Ricardo Pietreczko produced a clinical finishing display – hitting 56 percent of his doubles – to beat 28th seed Gian van Veen 3-1.
PDC Asian Tour leader Alexis Toylo lost 3-1 to Krzysztof Ratajski and 18th seed Josh Rock recorded a 3-0 victory over Welsh debutant Rhys Griffin.
Former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding hit six maximums as he defeated Grand Slam of Darts number two Martin Lukeman 3-1 to reach the third round for the first time.