Blue Square UK Open

WAYNE MARDLE will meet Adrian Lewis in round three of the Blue Square UK Open on Friday night, after surviving a scare against Gary Welding in his Reebok Stadium opener.

Mardle began his challenge in the event on Thursday night when the tournament kicked off with the opening two rounds in Bolton.

The World Championship semi-finalist trailed Gary Welding 3-1, but took five successive legs to put himself into the last 64, where he meets world number six Lewis.

"I was under pressure with coming into the event so early and I didn^t play particularly well early on," said Mardle. "I had a bit of luck and managed to produce my game when I needed to."

Earlier in the tournament, World Ladies Champion Anastasia Dobromyslova went down 6-5 in a thriller against Robert Thornton.

The Russian led 2-1 and pulled back from 4-2 to send the game into a decider, before Thornton took the win.

"I enjoyed it but if I had won it would have been even better," said Dobromyslova, 23. "When I went 2-1 up I thought I^d got him, and I was confident all the way through but in the final leg I was a bit unlucky with my scoring.

"Fair play to Robert, he played well but with a bit more practice I could beat him next time."

The Scot - a former BDO world number one who switched to the PDC recently - also overcame Bob Crawley 6-2 to book his place in the third round on Friday.

Ironically, he drew Dutch youngster Michael van Gerwen in a clash of the current and former World Masters champions.

Raymond van Barneveld begins the defence of his title on Board Two against Tony Ayres, while two-time UK Open winner Phil Taylor takes on John Ferrell.

2004 champion Roland Scholten takes on Mark Walsh, a former Bolton runner-up, and last year^s beaten finalist Vincent van der Voort drew in-form Colin Lloyd, the runner-up in last month^s PDC US Open.

Teenage sensation Joe Cullen celebrated his debut in a major tournament by dropping just two legs in impressive wins over Mark Stapleton and Dennis Smith after having to battle through two rounds of pub qualifiers to win a place in Bolton.

The 18-year-old postman from Bradford will now meet Chris Mason in round three, and admitted: "I^m speechless to have got through but the bigger the pressure the better I played, and everything^s a bonus for me now."

American Gary Mawson defeated Darren Johnson and Mark Frost to reach the last 64 - but breathed a sigh of relief after almost being denied entry to the UK on Tuesday, having left his passport in an airport lounge in New York.

Scott Waites, the BDO number four who won through the Holsten Qualifiers staged in pubs around the UK to join the PDC stars in the event, won three matches to book his place in round three, including 6-0 whitewashes of Scott Mitton and Lee White.

Alan Warriner-Little won the clash of the "Top Gun" movie nicknames in his clash with Tony Mitchell, with "The Iceman" coming out a 6-2 victor against "Maverick".

World Championship runner-up Kirk Shepherd made an impressive start to his bid for further glory, hitting a 158 checkout in his win over Jan van der Rassel, but a 170 finish from former World Champion Steve Beaton was not enough to prevent his 6-4 loss to Matt Clark.

Thornton, Waites and Cullen were among six of the Holsten Qualifiers to progress to the third round, alongside Sam Rooney, Alan Casey and Justin Pipe, who drew world number three James Wade.

Alan Green, a quarter-finalist last year, was a preliminary round casualty to Casey, who also defeated Lee Palfreyman and Dave Johnston to reach the last 64.

York

World Champion John Part will take on Colin Monk in round three, while Kevin Painter’s reward for a win over Tony Eccles on Thursday was a clash with Colin Osborne – his rival for a place in the world’s top 16 and regular travelling companion on the PDC circuit.

2008 Blue Square UK Open

Preliminary Round

Johnny Haines 6-5 John Kuczynski

Scott Waites 6-0 Scott Mitton

Paul Whitworth 6-2 Mark Jodrill

Nigel Birch 6-2 Paul Knighton

Nicky Turner 6-3 Gordon Fitzpatrick

Alan Casey 6-1 Alan Green

Paul Cooper 6-2 Michael Barnard

Chris Hornby 6-4 Steve Hillier

First Round

Jamie Harvey 6-1 Richie Burnett

Robert Thornton 6-5 Anastasia Dobromyslova

Dennis Priestley 6-1 Danny King

Dave Honey 6-1 Nicky Turner

Michael Smith 6-2 Alan Caves

Gary Mawson 6-5 Darren Johnson

Dave Johnston 6-3 Stuart Pickles

Ian Jopling 6-5 Ken Dobson

Joey Palfreyman 6-1 Mel Davies

Martin Burchell 6-3 Darren Sutton

Dave Harris 6-3 Mick Savvery

Alan Casey 6-4 Lee Palfreyman

John Quantock 6-4 Gary Noonan

Dan Timmins 6-0 Andrew Callary

Tony Ayres 6-3 David Howells

Darren Webster 6-1 Chris Hornby

Martyn Turner 6-5 Alan Reynolds

Bob Crawley 6-1 Harry Anderson

Adrian

Paul Whitworth 6-5 Dave Ladley

Tony Mitchell 6-1 Geoff Harkup

Eddie Lovely 6-4 Paul Cook

Johnny Haines Bye (Darren Williams withdrawn)

Scott Waites 6-3 Aaron Turner

Shane Passey 6-3 Joe Bata

Sean Palfrey 6-5 Jamie Robinson

Lee White 6-5 Ryan Francis

Nigel Birch 6-1 Dale Pinch

Joe Cullen 6-0 Mark Stapleton

Sam Rooney 6-1 Richie Corner

Justin Pipe 6-4 Geoff Wylie

Paul Cooper 6-4 Paul McDine

Second Round

Terry Jenkins 6-0 Joey Palfreyman

Wayne Mardle 6-3 Gary Welding

Kevin Painter 6-2 Tony Eccles

Matt Clark 6-4 Steve Beaton

Kirk Shepherd 6-4 Jan van der Rassel

Robert Thornton 6-2 Bob Crawley

Joe Cullen 6-2 Dennis Smith

Paul Cooper 6-1 Carlos Rodriguez

John MaGowan Bye (Jimmy Mann withdrawn)

Sam Rooney 6-3 Eddie Lovely

Dave Askew 6-4 Steve Hine

Nigel Birch 6-5 Shayne Passey

Andy Jenkins 6-4 Michael Smith

Gary Mawson 6-0 Mark Frost

Dave Honey 6-2 Kevin Dowling

Dennis Priestley 6-4 Mick McGowan

Steve Evans 6-4 Owen Caffrey

David Platt 6-4 Martin Burchell

Tony Ayres 6-5 Paul Whitworth

Jason Clark 6-0 Johnny Haines

Steve Smith 6-4 Jamie Caven

Martyn Turner 6-1 John Quantock

Scott Waites 6-0 Lee White

Steve Maish 6-1 Ian Jopling

Alan Warriner-Little 6-2 Tony Mitchell

Jason Barry 6-5 Adrian Welsh

Mark Lawrence 6-5 Darren Webster

Justin Pipe 6-2 Lionel Sams

John Ferrell 6-3 Dan Timmins

Simon

Jamie Harvey 6-4 Dave Harris

Alan Casey 6-2 Dave Johnston

Third Round Draw

7pm Start, Friday

Main Stage

Michael van Gerwen v Robert Thornton

Vincent van der Voort v Colin Lloyd

John Ferrell v Phil Taylor

Adrian Lewis v Wayne Mardle

Board Two

Mervyn King v Wes Newton

Tony Ayres v Raymond van Barneveld

Kevin Painter v Colin Osborne

James Wade v Justin Pipe

Board Three

Kirk Shepherd v Wayne Jones

Paul Cooper v Alan Tabern

Jelle Klaasen v Dave Askew

Martyn Turner v Jamie Harvey

Board Four

Mark Dudbridge v Alan Warriner-Little

Barrie Bates v Jason Clark

Peter Manley v Dave Honey

Steve Evans v Simon Whatley

Board Five

Nigel Birch v Dennis Priestley

Mark Walsh v Roland Scholten

Alan Casey v Jason Barry

John Part v Colin Monk

Board Six

Steve Brown v Kevin McDine

Matt Clark v Andy Hamilton

Steve Smith v Andy Jenkins

Andy Smith v Terry Jenkins

Board Seven

Scott Waites v Wayne Atwood

Gary Mawson v Alex Roy

David Platt v Mark Lawrence

Ronnie Baxter v Sam Rooney

Board Eight

John MaGowan v Brendan Dolan

Steve Maish v Denis Ovens

Chris Mason v Joe Cullen

Chris Thompson v Adrian Gray