Askew struggled after a promising start

England's Askew, the 19th seed, failed to shine in a 3-0 defeat to Canada's Gerry Convery.

St Helens qualifier Alan Tabern got the better of Roy, the 23rd seed 3-2 in a closely contested match.

But there were wins for Chris Mason and Kevin Painter, who beat Dale Newton to set up a clash with his brother Wes.

Mason held off a strong challenge from Steve Hine to emerge a 3-1 winner.

Hine, who makes muffins for a living, took the first set but 22nd seed Mason then got on top and looked to be cruising at 2-1 up.

But the 36-year-old from Coventry did not give in, battled back into contention and had Mason worried before he finally hit the decisive double.

Andy 'Pie Man' Smith produced a classy performance to crush Colin Monk 3-0 and secure a meeting with America's Ray Carver, surprise conqueror of Ronnie 'Rocket' Baxter.

The only Scottish player in the competition, Jamie Harvey, had his hopes of a lengthy run swiftly ended with a 3-0 defeat against Germany's Tomas Seyler.

'Bravedart', never the most consistent thrower, could not get into any sort of rhythm and Seyler completed his triumph with a 112 checkout.

Barbados telephone engineer Winston Cadogan battled bravely but was ultimately outclassed 3-0 by Belgian 27th seed Erik Clarys.