Coverage of the World Darts Championship resumes on Friday, December 27 with another bumper double session at Alexandra Palace
Friday 27 December 2019 12:11, UK
With the business stage of the World Darts Championship upon us, we've picked out five of the biggest shocks so far...
From high-profile exits to landmark victories and one emotional farewell, the 2019/20 showpiece event hasn't been short of drama or entertainment as we enter the Christmas break.
Here, we take a look at some of the most eye-opening moments at this year's tournament so far...
The unrivalled story of the tournament, Fallon Sherrock made history as she became the first woman to beat a man at a darts world championship, winning 3-2 against Ted Evetts in the first round.
Superstar Sherrock followed up her heroics with a stunning 3-1 win over the experienced world No 11 Mensur Suljovic, nailing bullseye to cap a remarkable performance and set up a third-round meeting with Chris Dobey on Friday afternoon. Will she continue her remarkable run?
Raymond van Barneveld's final appearance at the world championship before retiring ended in gut-wrenching disappointment as he was beaten 3-1 by Darin Young in round one. The five-time world champion admitted afterwards he would 'never forgive' himself for his early exit, although that won't overshadow an undeniably incredible career.
Having arrived at the Alexandra Palace as one of the tournament favourites, last year's runner-up Michael Smith was out in round two following a 3-1 defeat to Luke Woodhouse, who was beaten 4-2 by Dimitri Van den Bergh in Monday's third-round contest.
"That's Christmas ruined," Smith tweeted post-match.
Rob Cross suffered a premature exit at the hands of Kim Huybrechts, losing 3-0 in round two just two years after being crowned world champion on his tournament debut.
With some unwanted spare time on his hands, the former electrician took to Twitter to offer his services as the Ally Pally suffered a power cut on Monday.
James Wade was also on the receiving end of a surprise exit in round three as he lost 4-2 to Steve Beaton having missed three darts at double tops in an attempt to level it at 2-2 in legs in the sixth set.
Beaton made no mistake with a checkout of 43 to seal the win and progress to the last 16 for the first time in 15 years.
Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. Coverage of the World Darts Championship continues on Sky Sports Darts throughout the tournament with another double session on Friday getting underway at 12.30pm and 7pm.