The 2025 World Darts Championships are currently fully in line with the trend that began during previous televised tournaments. It’s been raining surprises at Alexandra Palace for now. Especially in the last tournament days before Christmas, a lot of recognized names appeared.
Of the 32 top-seeded players, only 18 made it through Christmas. Looking at the rankings, Michael Smith was the biggest casualty of the second round. The world number two lost to Kevin Doets this year. The two players also met in the second round of the previous world championship, and Smith narrowly lost.
Sensationally, Gary Anderson could have been the biggest name to stumble at the first hurdle. After an excellent season, the Flying Scotsman was tipped to be the world champion, but Anderson lost 3-0 in sets to Jeffrey de Graaf. In addition to Smith, Rob Cross and Dave Chisnall these are the remaining players from the world’s top ten who lost their opening match. Cross and Chisnall lost to Scott Williams and Ricky Evans respectively.
The curtain came down on Danny Noppert against Ryan Joyce, while Dirk van Duijvenbode was eliminated by Madars Razma. Gian van Veen loses to Ricardo Pietreczko and Raymond van Barneveld faced Nick Kenny.
Mike de Decker also did not live up to high expectations. The Belgian was knocked down in the second round by Luke Woodhouse. James Wade, Ross Smith, Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens and Ritchie Edhouse are among the top 32 players in the world not taking part in the World Darts Championships.
Never before have so many players been eliminated in the opening match of the World Darts Championship. The fourteen seed count is a slight improvement on the record set in 2019, when thirteen seeds were eliminated before Christmas.
The top 32 players were eliminated
Michael Smith (2)
Rob Cross (5)
Dave Chisnall (6)
Danny Noppert (13)
Gary Anderson (14)
James Wade (16)
Ross Smith (19)
Martin Schindler (23)
Mike Decker (24)
Dirk van Duijvenbode (25)
Gabriel Clemens (27)
Gian van Veen (28)
Ritchie Edhouse (29)
Raymond van Barneveld (32)
