Rob Cross eases into World Darts third round while furious Cullen takes aim at Suljovic.

Rob Cross progressed comfortably into the third round of the PDC World Darts Championship after seeing off Ian White 3–1 at Alexandra Palace. The 2018 world champion has endured a frustrating season marked by early exits in several major events, but he showed his class against the experienced White to secure his place in the post-Christmas stage of the tournament. Cross’s assured performance kept alive his hopes of claiming a second world title and suggested he may yet rediscover his best form on the sport’s biggest stage.

While Cross enjoyed a relatively smooth afternoon, earlier drama unfolded elsewhere at Ally Pally. Joe Cullen launched a furious post-match outburst after losing 3–1 to Mensur Suljovic in their second-round clash. The 32nd seed accused Suljovic of gamesmanship, criticising what he felt was excessively slow play during the decisive stages of the contest. Cullen later vented his frustration on social media, describing the tactics as “cheating” and insisting that such behaviour had no place in darts.

Suljovic played down the controversy when asked about the accusations, saying he did not understand Cullen’s reaction. Elsewhere, Krzysztof Ratajski booked his return after Christmas with a 3–1 victory over Ryan Joyce, while Luke Woodhouse produced a dominant display to defeat Max Hopp 3–0.

Attention then turned to the evening session, where reigning champion and world No 1 Luke Littler was set to face David Davies. Former champion Gerwyn Price was due to meet Wesley Plaisier, and Damon Heta prepared to take on Switzerland’s Stefan Bellmont, who had already claimed a notable scalp by eliminating Raymond van Barneveld in the opening round.