Rod Harrington became the second of the top four seeds to fall in the first round of the World Matchplay Championship when he lost 10-7 to Andy Jenkins here last night.
The "Prince of Style" winner of the tournament in 1998 and 1999 followed top-ranked Peter Manley through the Winter Gardens exit.
Harrington, the fourth seed, trailed from the outset as Jenkins, from Hampshire, made a flying start to lead 3-0, helped by check-outs of 107 and 81.
The 29-year-old 14th seed put himself on the brink of victory at 9-4 with a finish of 101, before Harrington won the next three legs to stay in the match.
But a 106 checkout secured Jenkins a second-round meeting with Nigel Justice, a 10-5 winner over Shayne Burgess.
The eighth seed, Dave Askew, also found himself in a battle but scraped into the second round with a 10-8 win over Graeme Stoddart and Cliff Lazarenko prevailed 12-10 against 15th-ranked Colin Lloyd.
* Barry Hearn has declared his intention to transform darts into a global sport after being appointed chairman of the PDC yesterday. "Darts is the sport of this millennium," Hearn said.
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