Taylor survived an almighty scare en route to the next round

Taylor had been on the verge of defeat at 13-12 down to Priestley when his rival sealed a 156 checkout.

But the 44-year-old settled to take the next three legs for a 15-13 win.

Taylor has been in electric form this season, already winning the World Championship, Premier League, UK Open and Las Vegas Desert Classic.

Afterwards Taylor, who faces John Part in the next round, said: "Dennis put me under pressure from the very first dart.

"He kept hitting treble 20 at the right time, and the doubles. That 156 checkout was just fantastic."

I'm playing good darts now and I think this result showed that Colin Lloyd

He is joined in the next round by world number one Colin Lloyd.

Lloyd crushed Mark Walsh 13-4 to set up a quarter-final with Adrian Lewis in the Stan James World Matchplay.

Walsh, defeated by Taylor in last month's Budweiser UK Open, had been expected to prove a tougher obstacle.

But Lloyd, 30, was in supreme form, finishing with a three-dart average of 102.56 and converting 13 of 29 attempts at doubles.

Walsh, however, nearly sealed a nine-darter in the 14th leg.

"I'm playing good darts now and I think this result showed that," said Lloyd.

"I also showed today that I can be quite clinical."