Luke Littler, the defending World Matchplay champion, threw a thrilling nine-darter to book his place in the quarter-finals with an 11-8 win over Nathan Aspinall at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
The world number one began the contest in sensational style with a perfect leg, finishing on double 15. The Warrington teenager cupped his ears to lap up the adulation of a delirious crowd, while fellow Englishman Aspinall laughed in disbelief before giving Littler a high five.
Excitement rose further in the fourth leg when Littler had double 15 remaining for a second nine-darter, only for his arrow to land just the wrong side of the wire.
Aspinall then turned to the crowd and jokingly offered up his darts to see if anyone else wanted to give the 19-year-old a game.
He refused to allow Littler to pull away, however, and hauled himself back to 7-7, only for the defending champion to reel off the next three legs. Aspinall briefly rallied again, but when he missed tops in the 19th leg, Littler checked out 52 to seal victory with an incredible 113.68 average, the second highest in the tournament's history, and a total of 14 180s.
The nine-darter just happened. These guys [the crowd] were booing me at the beginning and then they started cheering me on!
It felt amazing and that was probably the best game Nathan and I have played against each other - it's never over against Nathan because he never gives up.
That's two unbelievable performances from myself here. Hopefully I can pick up the title again, but I just have to focus on who I play next.
Littler will play the winner of the final second-round match on Tuesday between Josh Rock and Stephen Bunting.
Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen's campaign ended with a 14-12 defeat to fellow Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode. Van Gerwen had battled back from 8-4 down to level the match at 10-all, but Van Duijvenbode closed out the contest.
Scotland's Gary Anderson also progressed to the last eight with an 11-7 win over Welshman Jonny Clayton.
What were Tuesday's World Matchplay results?
Numbers in brackets indicate seedings.
(5) Jonny Clayton 7-11 Gary Anderson (12)
(4) Michael van Gerwen 12-14 Dirk van Duijvenbode
(1) Luke Littler 11-8 Nathan Aspinall (16)
(8) Josh Rock v Stephen Bunting (9)
What is Wednesday's Matchplay schedule?
Round two continues from 19:15 BST.
Cameron Menzies v Ross Smith (15)
(3) Gian van Veen v Wessel Nijman (14)
(6) James Wade v Ryan Searle (11)
