Josh Rock showed few nerves as he made his World Championship debut on Saturday night.
The Broughshane darts star went into the tournament on the back of a significant hype train following a stellar year at the oche.
The 21-year-old landed his first professional title earlier this year and became World Youth crown.
Read more: Josh Rock hits nine-dart leg in Grand Slam of Darts thriller
He also claimed a televised nine-darter against Michael van Gerwen at the Grand Slam of Darts.
His next hurdle is the Cazoo World Championship being held at Alexandra Palace, and Rock rose to the occasion on his bow, beating Spain’s Jose Justicia 3-1 to set up a second round clash with England’s Callan Rydz on Wednesday.
He had to fight for his win. After taking the first set Justicia levelled it at 1-1. But Rock dominated the final two sets to claim his win, averaging 93.36 and hitting three 180s and the highest checkout (150).
Rock later admitted he wasn't at his best, but insisted there was no chance he was going home at the first stage.
He said: “I played alright in the first set but that second set I was absolutely dreadful and I walked off the stage, looked at my fiancee and told myself ‘wake up Josh’. I knew what I had to do.
“I was making sure I wasn’t going home tonight.”
Meanwhile, Derry’s Daryl Gurney became the first seeded player to crash out,losing 3-0 to Alan Soutar.
Gurney never got into any rhythm as his Scottish opponent claimed an impressive win on the Ally Pally stage.
Soutar said: “I’m absolutely buzzing, Daryl is a tough player but he missed loads of chances and let me in.
“He’s a seed for a reason, he’s 24th in the world, he’s a lot better player than me but this is my day.”
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