Andy Hamilton overcame 2005 runner-up Mark Dudbridge in another superb tussle at the PDC World Championships.

'The Hammer', a 39-year-old publican from Stoke, led 3-1 and looked on course to show why he is regarded by many people as an outsider for the title.

But Dudbridge, following a lean spell, is back in the sort of form that took him to the final almost two years ago and dug in to level it up at 3-3.

In a contest that contained 24 maximum scores of 180 divided equally, Hamilton hit his 11th as he made the decisive break of throw in set seven, and a12th then set up the world number 19 for the checkout that sent him through to the last 16.

Hamilton will face either third seed Dennis Priestley or Per Laursen in round three. They play their second-round match on Wednesday.