William O'Connor and Gerwyn Price have become the latest names into the last 16 at the 2025 PDC Winmau World Masters, taking victories over Rob Cross and Florian Hempel respectively.
Rob Cross came to Milton Keynes with a lot of confidence after winning the Dutch Darts Masters just last weekend. Cross also got off to an excellent start against William O'Connor, effortlessly taking the first set 2-0.
With a fine 140-finish (2x treble 18 and double 16), he also quickly took a 1-0 lead in the second set. After several missed doubles, O'Connor then finally managed to put his first leg on the board. The Irishman then missed three darts on double 12, but Cross could not take advantage and on his fifth attempt he hit double 12 to make it 1-1 in sets. A 53-finish gave O'Connor a 1-0 lead in the third set. Cross then missed a 147-finish on double 18 and via double six O'Connor took advantage to lead 2-1 in sets.
Cross remained somewhat disappointing in the opening leg of the fourth set, failing to find the high scores and after nailing double 20, O'Connor suddenly needed just one more leg for victory. However, O'Connor then missed two match darts and double 18 allowed Cross to make it 1-1. There was no comeback though as O'Connor then finished it off with a masterful 151 finish for the upset 3-1 win.
Price vs Hempel
In the next match, Gerwyn Price, who has shown signs of a resurgence in early 2025, started very strongly to hold in the opening leg with a 127 on the bull. Although he wired the bull for a 170 in the next leg, the Welshman returned to mop up 25 and take the opening set.
An 80 checkout then saw Price take a third straight leg in the opener of set 2. Moments later the Iceman nailed tops to make it 2-0 against a helpless Hempel. Despite some misses in the first leg of set 3, Price eventually double 1 to move one away from the last 16. Hempel finally then got himself on the board to level set 3, but moments later Price sealed victory with a 13-darter.
151 TO WIN IT FROM O'CONNOR 🙌
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 30, 2025
That is a stunning finish from the Irishman as he beats Rob Cross 3-1 to knock the first seed out of the 2025 Winmau World Masters pic.twitter.com/mEOVzKNRJR