Rob Cross (Defending Champ) off to winning start beating Jeffrey de Zwaan 3 sets to 1 on Thursday's Opening night at the (Ally Pally) Alexandra Palace, London.

Opening night of the PDC World Championship was shown live on Sky Sports got off to a flyer.

Darts has started - It's Officially Christmas time!

New Zealand’s Cody Harris fought to win in a superb match defeating Martin Schindler 3 sets to 2 and progresses into round 2 where he faces Jamie Lewis.

Women's BDO Lakeside Winner & Female qualifier Lisa Ashton didn't mess around taking two 100-plus finishes and the first set 3 legs to 0 against Dutchman, Jan Dekker.

However, Ashton admitted "I let my guard down" as we saw Jan Dekker fight back to a 3 set to 1 victory who straight after the match said "I had to work really hard. There was a lot of media attention around this opener and Lisa played awesome in the first set. Relieved, YES."

It was a solid effort from Lisa Ashton. She added "I wanted to show that we’re definitely not scared of the men, that we’re ready to get up on stage with them."

Just qualifying for the PDC First round she receives £7,500. Considering the BDO World Champion took home £12,000 for the Lakeside crown it seems the BDO need to increase the rewards for playing.

Rob Cross majestic with 103 dart average.

Winner of the Sid Waddell Trophy said "I had been written off on social media, my finishing got me through."

Darting fans got their monies worth as both players produced incredible averages. Jeffrey de Zwaan will be gutted losing with a 106 three-dart-average (second highest losing average in the tournament's history).

Cross added "If anyone is going to beat me at the Ally Pally, they are going to have to play really well because I am going to play better and I believe I can win it again."

Results

Thursday December 13 (1900)
Jeffrey de Zwaan 3-0 Nitin Kumar (R1)
Cody Harris 3-2 Martin Schindler (R1)
Jan Dekker 3-1 Lisa Ashton (R1)
Rob Cross 3-1 Jeffrey De Zwaan (R2)