Darts results: Gerwyn Price overcomes Martin Schindler as Rob Cross produces stunning comeback on night three at the World Matchplay

The Iceman made a slow start and found himself in real danger at 7-6 down but he refused to melt in the in the sweltering heat of the Winter Gardens and won the next three legs - including a classy pair of 11-darters - to move to the brink of victory.

The plucky German, who had earlier produced a superb checkout of 141, kept the match alive with a fine finish under pressure from 91 only for Price to take the same score in the next leg to wrap up up a 10-8 win.

Price acknowledged he'd been struggling to find his best form in recent months but an average of 99.78 and eight maximums will give him much-needed confidence to launch a lengthy title run.

"I think I put myself under a lot of pressure by letting him off early on," Price reflected

"Sometimes that's what I need to get myself going and I was playing some good darts by the end of the match.

"I've not been playing very well the last couple of months, as everybody knows, but today I came out fighting.

"I want to win this tournament and get back to world number one, back to where I think I deserve to be, but I'll have to come through a few tough games to do that."

Price will next meet Dave Chisnall, who battled past Kim Huybrechts 10-7 to maintain his hot streak of form.

Chizzy headed to Blackpool on the back of 19 wins in his last 23 matches although he'd perhaps need to improve on his average of 94.56 in this encounter if he's to push Price the distance.

Rob Cross produced a remarkable comeback to reach round two as he recovered from 8-2 down to defeat Chris Dobey 11-9 in a thriller.

Cross, who stunned Daryl Gurney in similar fashion en route to the 2019 title, was staring an early exit in the face as a fired-up Dobey hit two double 19s for a 92 checkout to lead 8-2.

But the Northumberland man was unable to see out a first victory on the Winter Gardens stage, as Cross reeled off six successive legs to level at 8-8.

Dobey stopped the rot with an 11-darter, and with the Geordie waiting on 48 for the match, Cross pinned a skin-saving bullseye with his last dart to take out 74 and level once again.

After Dobey missed a dart at tops, Cross once again found a last dart double, this time double nine, to go 10-9 up before keeping his composure with a 13-darter to seal an unlikely win.

"In the first ten legs my darts were slipping, everything was all over the place," admitted Cross, who will face Jose de Sousa in round two.

"When I was 8-2 down, I stayed on stage during the interval and I knew if I could just produce a steady level, and stop him getting to nine legs, I had a chance.

"Chris missed a lot, he should've beaten me, but I've produced these comebacks before so I had the belief I could turn it around.

"This place [Winter Gardens] will always be special to me, I love it here so I'm really pleased to stay in the tournament."

De Sousa wrapped up a 10-6 victory over Gabriel Clemens with a show-stopping 136 checkout to reach the last 16 for a second consecutive year.

The world number seven was the front-runner throughout the contest, but was made to wait for the winning moment after a cruel bounce-out denied him a two double-tops finish on 100 for a 10-5 win.

Undeterred, De Sousa landed his sixth 180 of the contest in the following leg before sealing the deal with his only ton-plus checkout of the match.

More to follow...

World Matchplay: Monday results and Tuesday schedule

Monday July 18 (1900 BST)
First Round (best of 19 legs)
TV Channel: Sky Sports

• Rob Cross 11-9 Chris Dobey
• Jose de Sousa 10-6 Gabriel Clemens
• Gerwyn Price 10-8 Martin Schindler
• Dave Chisnall 10-7 Kim Huybrechts

Tuesday July 19 (1900 BST)
Second Round (best of 21 legs)
TV Channel: Sky Sports

• Rowby-John Rodriguez v Dimitri Van den Bergh
• James Wade v Nathan Aspinall
• Peter Wright v Krzysztof Ratajski
• Michael van Gerwen v Joe Cullen

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL WORLD MATCHPLAY SCHEDULE

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