World Matchplay Monday evening session Round-Up | Classy Cameron Menzies dumps out Luke Humphries as Gerwyn Price survives Schindler scare

Gerwyn Price survived a marathon clash with Martin Schindler and Luke Humphries was skittled out of the World Matchplay by the brilliant Scot, Cameron Menzies as the first round ended in Blackpool.

To that Menzies game first of all as he sealed an excellent 10-7 win over Humphries, a far cry from his meltdowns of the past which have seen the Scot either not produce his best or like the World Championship when he punched a table.

But that seemed to be the making of Menzies who since then has been able to channel that energy into bettering himself and a win against a player like Humphries certainly helps with that.

Humphries was broken to start the tie as He missed 120 and then Menzies returned for double 20. Albeit breaks aplenty for the next few legs. Humphries hit 114 for 1-1 then Menzies went 2-1 up on double eight. Menzies broke with 129 for 3-2 but back came Humphries with 167 for 3-3. Menzies hit double eight then for 4-3.

But finally he managed to make it stick. He held on 50 then broke again with a 94 checkout for 6-3 and held for 7-3 with an 80 checkout. The railroading threatened to continue with Menzies hitting 70 for 8-3. But with finishing line in sight, Humphries turned on with a 52 and 85 checkout for 8-5 down then broke again for 8-6 down. But Menzies finally held again with a 98 checkout to go one away before truly pulling it out of the fire with an incredible 170 checkout to win it. Utterly remarkable.

Prior to that, Gerwyn Price was taken to overtime by Martin Schindler and tonight nearly saw the night where two of the biggest names fell.

Schindler was rampant to start the tie. He broke on double 20 for 2-0 then held with a 98 checkout for 3-0. He broke again with a 50 checkout for 4-0 and although Price broke back, he led 5-2 with a 66 checkout.

Price was broken again as he missed 150 and Schindler came back for 54. He went 8-5 up and towards the finish as it looked likely that Price was going home. But Price remarkably turned it around making it 8-8 after breaking and then led with another break on double six. Schindler broke back with a 121 for 9-9 but it still went overtime and Price produced with a 57 checkout and 100 to win. Crisis well and truly averted.

Ross Smith perhaps was the best of the night realistically as he took down Kevin Doets 10-6 and averaged a ton while Doets averaged nearly 105 and lost.

A lot of chatter dominated the narrative with Doets going in, but in the end Smith managed to reduce the chatter and silenced those doubting him. He produced a near perfect starts winning the first five legs with brilliant darts. He broke on double eight for 2-0 then pinned double 20 for 3-0. He broke again with a 160 checkout for 4-0 before holding for 5-0 on double 12.

He broke once more with a 56 checkout but Doets resolve kind of went up as he wasn't giving away sloppy breaks anymore. But it was still a mountain to climb. Smith went towards the brink at 8-4 with another break on double 18 before holding on double 20 for 9-4. He was broken for 9-6 by Doets. But he returned for 120 for the win.

While Rob Cross thrashed Danny Noppert to complete the second round line-up on Monday's proceedings.

Cross was untouchable to start the tie as he opened with a 76 checkout then followed up with double 16 for 2-0. He broke again for double eight with Noppert missing multiple chances to get on the board. Cross followed up with a 128 checkout.

Cross broke again for 5-0 on double 16. Noppert finally broke for 5-1 down on 60 and held with a 76 checkout but back came Cross to break on double 18 before holding on double eight for 8-2. He sealed the win 10-3 on double two breaking again.