Such has been his rise up the rankings, it was a debut for Clemens and he made it one to remember against Cross - who is the first reigning champion to be eliminated in the first round since 2006.

He will now take on fellow high flyer, Krzysztof Ratajski who produced one of the performances of the tournament so far against Jermaine Wattimena on the opening day; it is bound to be a classy tie.

After the brilliance of the Durrant-De Zwaan tie, it was a below start to the tie between Cross and Clemens; but it was the latter who went 3-2 up including a 127 checkout despite averaging just 75.

Cross though from there broke back taking out 87 to get it back level at 3-3. The German streaked clear though hitting the first 170 of the tournament to make it 5-3.

'Voltage' replied with a hold of throw in the form of a 76 checkout; which made it 5-4 and kept it still almost level between the pair. An 11-darter which saw Cross pin a 94 checkout put it to parity and gave him an important break back.

After it continued in that vein, Clemens regained the upper hand at 7-6 with a break of throw; it went two clear at 8-6 to surge towards the winning line.

It was three 180's in four legs for Clemens who pressured to leave 140 but Cross pinned 36 first time to hold throw and keep himself in it.

Another 180 was hit on Clemens' throw and he went one away from the winning line. He handed himself an immediate chance leaving himself 52 with Cross needing 110 to stay in it which he pinned on double 15 to go one leg behind and heap the pressure on the German Giant.

A poor opening visit from Clemens was punished with a 180 but the German was sat on 52 for the match which he got a shot at this time. Two darts were missed though at double 16 which gave Cross the chance to break and force sudden death.

He couldn't take his chance though and more match darts were set. This time there was no issues with double eight being hit by Clemens first up.

Click here for more information about the World Matchplay, including the tournament bracket, TV coverage and prize money breakdown.

Mensur Suljovic (100.35) 12-10 (101.13) Jamie Hughes
Glen Durrant (107.29) 10-3 (96.71) Jeffrey de Zwaan
Rob Cross (94.4) 8-10 (89.38) Gabriel Clemens
Peter Wright v Jose de Sousa
Michael Smith v Jonny Clayton

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