It was a terrible time for for the continent, as all North Americans fell at the first hurdle.

The US pairing of Danny Baggish and Jules van Dongen took on Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski and Sebastian Bialecki in what looked like an evenly matched contest. That’s the way it turned out, and despite forging leads of 1-0, 3-2, and 4-3, Danny and Jules were taken to a ninth and deciding leg. Bialecki posted a perfectly-timed 180 to leave 40, which meant that Baggish desperately needed to check out from 160. The first two darts were perfect, but the D20 didn’t fall, and Ratajski cleaned up for the win.

Canada’s Jeff Smith and Matt Campbell didn’t get that near, and after closing the gap to 3-2, allowed the Republic of Ireland to run away to a 5-2 victory. Former US #1 Paul Lim suffered the same fate, as he and Harith Lim slipped to a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Denmark.

Aussies Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta came within a whisker of making World Cup history, with Whitlock wiring D18 for a 9-darter! They too ran out 5-2 winners against Lithuania. Elswhere, the remaining Top 8 seeds all made it through to Saturday.

Results and updates can be found on the PDC website here

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