With the shockwaves from Raymond van Barneveld’s dramatic defeat at the World Darts Championship on Sunday night still reverberating round the Alexandra Palace in London, there was a more familiar feel to proceedings on Monday night as all four of the favourites progressed to the second round.

James Wade, Kevin Painter, Mervyn King and Andy Hamilton were all winners on a night that failed to reach the octane levels of Sunday, but still provided its fair share of drama.

James Wade is the second most successful player in PDC history having won the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, UK Open, Championship League and Premier League titles since 2007.

But the World Championship title still eludes him and the memory of a first round exit in last year’s competition still looked fresh in his mind as he struggled to overpower Finish qualifier Petri Korte.

Wade raced into a two sets to nil lead but couldn’t close out the game and Korte found his feet to take the third set 3-1, before checking out 122 and 106 in consecutive legs to build a 2-0 lead in the fourth.

But with Wade squirming uncomfortably behind him, the Finn’s composure deserted him at the crucial moment and he missed two darts at double eighteen to tie the match at two sets all.

Wade didn’t need a second invitation and he stole the leg before quickly wrapping up the next two to progress in unspectacular fashion with a 3-1 victory.

Earlier, Andy Hamilton had held off a strong challenge from Spaniard Antonio Alcinas to progress to the second round where he will meet Dutchman Vincent van der Voort.

Alcinas, who was part of the two-man Spanish team that famously knocked both England and Scotland out of the World Cup in 2011, scored the second highest average of the tournament so far as he chased his best ever result in a major singles competition, but he was let down by his finishing at crucial times as Hamilton twice came from a set behind to snatch a 3-2 victory.

Elsewhere, Veteran Kevin Painter followed up his first ever major title win at the Players Championship Finals earlier in the month with a hard-fought 3-1 win over World Youth Champion Aaron Monk, while world number 16 Mervyn King didn’t even lose a leg as he whitewashed Australia’s Geoff Kime 3-0.

All eyes now turn to Scotland’s Gary Anderson as he opens his bid to become the first Scottish World Champion since 1997 against German Jyhan Artut on Tuesday evening.

The world number four is looking to go one step better than last year, when he narrowly lost 7-5 in a classic final against Adrian Lewis, and become the first Scotsman since Les Wallace to lift a World Darts Championship trophy.

Also on the bill are former World Matchplay champion Colin Lloyd who faces US number one Darin Young, and seven-time major finalist Terry Jenkins, who will play the winner of the evening’s preliminary round tie between Joe Cullen and Oliver Ferenc.

World Darts Championship Day 5, Results

Andy Hamilton 3-2 Antonio Alcinas
Per Laursen 3-4 Petri Korte (prelim)
Mervyn King 3-0 Geoff Kime
Kevin Painter 3-1 Aaron Monk
James Wade 3-1 Petri Korte