Wade off to a good start

Number three seed James Wade made a fine start to his bid for the 2008 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship on Friday night.

The World Matchplay and World Grand Prix champion dropped just one leg in a 3-0 destruction of Australian Steve MacArthur at London's Alexandra Palace to reach the last 32.

Wade will now take on Steve Beaton in the second round on Boxing Day, with the 1996 World Champion having earlier overcome Steve Evans in straight sets.

Canada's John Part, the 2003 PDC World Champion, survived a scare from South Africa's Charles Losper before taking a 3-1 victory.

Losper came from a set down to level and pushed Part all the way before the experienced Canadian pulled clear.

Mark Dudbridge, the runner-up three years ago, saw off qualifier Steve Hine to set up a tasty second round meeting with Ronnie Baxter.

Baxter was forced to dig deep to earn his place in the last 32 with a 3-2 win over impressive Canadian qualifier Dan Olson.

The second round begins with six matches on Saturday, including 13-time World Champion Phil Taylor facing Mark Walsh and qualifier Jamie Caven taking on Wayne Mardle.

The afternoon session features the all-Cumbrian meeting between three-time finalist Peter Manley and Alan Warriner-Little, who overcame China's Shi Yongsheng 3-1 on Friday.

2008 Ladbrokes.com PDC World Darts Championship

First Round

Alan Warriner-Little 3-1 Shi Yongsheng

Colin Osborne 1-3 Erwin Extercatte

Andy Smith 2-3 Mensur Suljovic

Steve Beaton 3-0 Steve Evans

Evening Session (7pm start)

Ronnie Baxter 3-2 Dan Olson

James Wade 3-0 Steve MacArthur

John Part 3-1 Charles Losper

Mark Dudbridge 3-1 Steve Hine