One dart Peter Manley and Phil 'The Power' Taylor march on despite scares

Manley, who has finished runner-up on three occasions, landed a 56-finish to win the match 3-2 after Greebe, 19, had broken the throw in the final set and put himself in command for a shock victory.

But with 31 100-plus visits to the oche, Manley, the No 5, assumed command as Greebe could not find his best when he needed it most.

Meanwhile, Roland Scholten edged Matt Clark 3-2 in a thrilling first-round match.

A high-quality encounter appeared to be going easily Scholten's way when he took the opening two legs at Alexandra Palace.

But he soon knew he had a match on his hands as Clark hit back to level the first set and force Scholten to dig deep to go 1-0 up with an 11-dart finish.

The next five legs all went to Clark, before Scholten recovered deep into the third set and then came up with an 86 checkout for 2-1.

Clark waltzed through the third set to level at 2-2.

Scholten spurned three chances to close out the match, allowing Clark in to take the contest to the wire.

Eventually, however, Scholten just had the firepower to resist his opponent's determined challenge - taking the final two legs to close out the win.

Rizal Barellano, a taxi driver from the Philippines, will today become the first player from his country to compete at the World Championship.

Barellano had to sell his cab to pay his entry fee for the qualifying tournament. He meets Miloslav Navratil of the Czech Republic.

Phil 'The Power' Taylor Taylor avoided a sensational first-round exit, hitting back from 2-1 down to beat Dutch teenager Michael Van Gerwen 3-2.

The 47-year-old Englishman won a match of changing fortunes with Van Gerwen, 18, having the chance to cause an epic upset when faced with a double 12 which he missed.

But in a tremendous final leg, Taylor dug deep to hit a double eight to maintain his record of never losing at this stage in what is his 19th world championship.

'The Power', who has won the world title on 13 occasions, said: "I was not on top of my game and nor was Michael. Every time I got my nose in front, he came back.

"I will go home now for a good sleep and make the most of my few days off."

"I was nervous but I never thought I would lose," said Taylor, who has never been knocked out in the first round of a World Championship.

"I didn't even realise he had the shot at double 12 to win it, that's how much I was concentrating. Maybe I gave him too much respect and lost my concentration."