Anderson will face either Jermaine Wattimena or Michael Barnard in the next round
2019 William Hill PDC World Darts Championship |
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Dates: 13 December 2018 - 1 January 2019 Venue: Alexandra Palace, London |
Coverage: Daily reports on BBC Sport website and app |
Two-time champion Gary Anderson needed to battle hard to beat debutant Kevin Burness and reach the PDC World Championship third round.
The 47-year-old Scot, who triumphed at Alexandra Palace in 2015 and 2016, went through 3-1.
Northern Ireland's Burness had beaten former top 10 player Paul Nicholson to set up the clash.
But, despite not always looking comfortable, Anderson's experience helped him into the last 32.
The world number four has enjoyed a successful year, winning the UK Open, World Matchplay and the Champions League of Darts.
And although he lost the opening leg of the match, he recovered well to take the opening set, despite being plagued by a wasp.
Burness levelled the match at 1-1 to give Anderson something to think about, but the Scot then won the next six legs to go through.
"I scraped through that one," he told Sky Sports afterwards. "There is a lot of work to do. He played well in the second set and I let him off on a few doubles.
"I had goosebumps going out there but I'm still in it.
"Now I have a week off and coming back it is like a new tournament."
Last year's semi-finalist Jamie Lewis also went through to the third round but he had to withstand a fightback from New Zealand's Cody Harris before winning the deciding fifth set.
Lewis, the last man to lose to Phil Taylor at last year's tournament, was in control at 2-0 up but Harris levelled at 2-2 before the Welshman took the final set without dropping a leg.
