Luke Woodhouse defies nine-dart finish from Damon Heta with nine legs on the spin to seal World Darts Championship epic and reach Last 16

Finishing with nine darts does not guarantee victory, as Damon Heta he proved it on Friday afternoon in an arduous but exciting fight against Luke Woodhouse thanks to which the latter reached the last 16 PDC World Darts Championships for the first time in his career.

Heta earns £60,000, the highest pay of his career and more than he received for winning the Brisbane Darts Masters tournament that launched his career. But given the Australian’s talk about the Premier League, it means another big name has dropped out and another big opportunity has disappeared. For Woodhouse, this is a new breakthrough. He will now face either Madars Razma or Stephen Bunting for a place in the quarter-finals.

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It all started with Woodhouse, who stole the opening set and marched on the Australian. He survived a missed shot to the leg before going into the decider and scoring double 16. This was despite an average of just 84.8.

However, Heta felt much better after he heroically hit nine darts and then, at the decisive moment of the third set, scored a well-timed 120 to take a 2-1 lead with five 180s to his name.

He seemed to be heading towards the Last 16 himself when he went up 3-1 after being down 2-0 and took the fourth set, scoring 81 points on a 12-darter in the decider.

But Woodhouse didn’t give up. In the fifth set, he won 3-1, reducing the deficit with seven 180s and increasing the score to 3-2. Woodhouse had six games to play and Heta needed quick answers as the former suddenly forced a deciding set. But those answers won’t come.

Heta couldn’t hit 104 and Woodhouse had 18 runs to start with, and with Heta unable to muster much more than 57, Bewdley’s ace ran towards the line. A 180 and a double 10 saw him consolidate on that break and he attacked again. Heta missed dart after dart in the outer ring to stay in it, and Woodhouse, cool as you like, hit a 60 to win.