Players Championship Finals Round-Up | Big names fall as James Wade, Ross Smith and Danny Noppert survive openers in Minehead

The opening session is complete at the Players Championship Finals in Minehead and the topic of the day is big names falling as multiple found their end of season closers crash and burn.

Not for James Wade, Danny Noppert and Ross Smith though who won through but for Jonny Clayton, Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall and Mike de Decker among others it is the end of the road before the PDC World Darts Championship which is due to take place from December 11. With Littler, Humphries among others tonight, will any fall early at the Players Championship Finals?

The main stage saw most of the big names fall with Rob Cross kicking it all off and creating a bit of a chain. He faced off against Sebastian Bialecki on the big stage in a 6-2 win for the Pole known as 'Bolt'. Bialecki punished an average of just 85.8 in another performance to forget while the Pole hit a highest checkout of 154.

In perhaps not a shock, former semi-finalist Ryan Joyce punished an abject display from Dave Chisnall who averaged just 86.5 as he sealed a 6-4 win. 'Relentless' as ever was superb on the big stage as he continues to thrive while Chisnall and Cross both need to head back to the drawing board after ending their season before the World Championship with another defeat.

Jonny Clayton was another opening day upset as the former finalist was defeated by James Hurrell. 'Hillbilly' was superb as he averaged 99.2. 'The Ferret' will hold on to Premier League ambitions but likely will need a big World Championship to achieve that after an early exit in Minehead.

Mike de Decker also fell early once again as he was defeated by 'Shazam' Cameron Crabtree. He capitalised on 17 missed darts at doubles from 'The Real Deal' including six match darts to snatch victory in a decider in yet another early exit for the Belgian. Cameron Menzies also was dumped out with ease by Adam Lipscombe on Stage Two 6-1.

While other main results include Scott Williams who has received a lot of barbs about dartitis about a video that has surfaced of him on the ProTour recently and despite him hitting back on this, he looked silky smooth in an easy win over Ian White.

White only averaged 79 in his early loss while Williams won through 6-2. Ross Smith brushed aside Ryan Meikle 6-1 who was a late replacement for Niko Springer but it didn't have to be a swashbuckling display with an 84 average and two 180's.

Danny Noppert also averaged 103 in seeing off Ricky Evans. A semi-finalist in the last few major tournaments and he will still harbour his own Premier League ambitions and he won through 6-2 over 'Rapid' who had a good Grand Slam of Darts but now moves on to the World Darts Championship where he is always a fans favourite.

While James Wade took down Mickey Mansell in a comfortable win over the Clonoe Cyclone with a 94.7 average and 50% on the doubles for a place in the second round. Albeit it was very much the handshake which courted controversy as Wade watched as Mansell made no eye contact with him in bizarre scenes. But 'The Machine' is through which would be all that counts for him and stopped the run of big names falling.

Bradley Brooks opened his debut in Minehead too with a 6-1 win over Martin Lukeman, while Andrew Gilding had to survive an almighty scare to see off Dom Taylor 6-5.

Other ties included Daryl Gurney winning the Northern Irish battle with Brendan Dolan 6-3 while Luke Woodhouse and Ricardo Pietreczko won 6-2 and 6-3 over Alan Soutar and William O'Connor to end the session.