2021 PDC World Darts Championship schedule: Wednesday afternoon session including Petersen versus Anderson

Devon Petersen and Gary Anderson headline a PDC World Darts Championship afternoon session which will have to go some way to eclipse Tuesday's drama.

You know something momentous has happened when a PDC World Darts Championship nine-darter barely makes the highlight reel. Two fourth round ties have been won, by Krzysztof Ratajski and Michael van Gerwen. But that doesn't even begin to tell the story of 68 exceptional, even excruciating, legs. We go again on Wednesday afternoon.

Daryl Gurney has gone under the radar somewhat, but is looking very good indeed. Another strong showing culminated in Gurney averaging 101 as he left Chris Dobey behind. The Northern Irishman's well-placed to match his previous best showing here, by making the quarter-finals.

Vincent van der Voort finds himself in the same boat, after ending Nathan Aspinall's run of semi-final appearances. The game was stilted by some dodgy finishing in sets three and five, but otherwise the Dutch Destroyer was lethal. This one's personal for Gurney - he's out for 'revenge' after Van Der Voort dumped him out of the World Matchplay.

With the greatest respect to Stephen Bunting and Ryan Searle, who could've called them being in a trio (along with Krzysztof Ratajski) on the cusp of a first PDC World Darts Championship semi-final? Bunting's performance deserves a lot of acclaim - the Bullet defied an early James Wade surge, and then a nine-darter, but his comeback win was outshone by the evening's goings-on. He won't mind much.

According to the PDC Order of Merit, Ryan Searle's the outsider of those remaining. Like Bunting, he's not going to worry about such trivial matters. After great wins over Jeffrey de Zwaan and Kim Huybrechts, Searle will feel in a good place to go even further, though the finishing could do with a little improvement.

As long as Gary Anderson's happy with the tables, the pace, the moonlight, good times, sunshine and/or the boogie, this should be a great fourth round meeting with Devon Petersen. There should be a lot of heavy scoring, for sure, and you'd expect a more fluent performance from Anderson.

Petersen hasn't yet shown his best form, but has only dropped one set, and has continued developing a knack for getting better and better as games progress. A quarter-final against Dirk van Duijvenbode or Glen Durrant awaits.

2021 PDC World Darts Championship schedule

Wednesday December 30

Afternoon Session (12:00 GMT)

12:15 Vincent van der Voort v Daryl Gurney

13:30 Stephen Bunting v Ryan Searle

14:45 Devon Petersen v Gary Anderson