Phil Taylor won his first world title in 1990

Phil Taylor made a comfortable start to his defence of the PDC Championship with a 3-0 first-round thrashing of Colin Monk at Alexandra Palace.

The 49-year-old, chasing his 15th world title, was too strong for his opponent, who did not win a leg.

Wayne Mardle suffered a shock defeat in the opening match of the event, losing 3-0 to Germany's Jyhan Artut.

England's Kevin McDine came from two sets down to defeat two-time former champion Dennis Priestley 3-2.

In the final game of the evening, Scotland's Robert Thornton made it through with a 3-1 victory over Christian Perez, who had earlier beaten Denmark's Per Laursen in the preliminary round.

Taylor, who defeated Raymond van Barneveld 7-1 to win the title at the start of this year, capped off a dominant display with a fine 170 checkout at the start of the third set.

"'I didn't feel right tonight, but I will get myself together for the next match," he said.

"I felt sorry for Colin tonight. I could sense that he just wanted the stage to open up and take him away."

The biggest surprise of the evening came in the first match when five-time semi-finalist Mardle slumped to defeat against Artut, ranked 153 in the world.

"This is clearly the biggest win of my career to far," said the qualifier. "It's even more special to beat someone like Wayne, who is a big crowd favourite."

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