Key events
*Searle (2) 1-0 (0) Clayton This is getting away from Clayton in a hurry. Searle hits tops for a comfortable break at the start of the third. Clayton was outscoring Searle at the start but his trebles have started to dry up.
Searle leads 6-1 in legs, yet he is averaging 99 to Clayton’s 103. That’s because of the stark difference in the quality of their finishing:
Searle wins the second set 3-0!
Searle 2-0 Clayton Ruthless stuff from Ryan Searle, who holds in 14 darts to storm into a two-set lead.
*Searle (1) 2-0 (0) Clayton Another break of throw for Searle! Clayton missed a dart at D16, a terrible effort, and Searle took out 116 on tops with the air of a man strolling to the paper shop on a brisk winter morning. His finishing has been outrageous.
Searle (1) 1-0 (0) Clayton*
Clayton’s scoring was superb in the first set and he picks up where he left off at the start of the second. But he misses four darts for a break and is punished on tops by Searle. Clayton’s doubling percentage is down to 11; Searle’s is at 67.
Searle wins the first set 3-1!
Liquid darts from Ryan Searle! Jonny Clayton starts with five perfect darts against the throw and is waiting on 71 after nine. He’ll be waiting forever: Searle takes out 125 to tops to win the set against the throw. The averages attest to a spectacular start:
*Searle (0) 2-1 (0) Clayton Both men hold, which means Searle is now throwing for to take his fifteenth straight set at this World Championships.
Searle breaks in the first leg!
*Searle (0) 1-0 (0) Clayton Clayton misses double double – 18 and tops – and Searle, whose finishing has been so good all tournament, calmly pops D12 to take out 96.
Jonny Clayton will throw first. Game on!
A bit of housekeeping
There’s a long day ahead, and darts isn’t the most liveblog-friendly sport, so we might not do leg-by-leg coverage for every single set. If nothing else, this clown needs the occasional toilet break. But we’ll be posting updates every few minutes.
Jonny Clayton started the tournament as world No5. He moved to No5 by beating Andreas Harryson; a win today would lift him to No3, above Michael van Gerwen. Ryan Searle has already jumped from No20 to No13; a win today lifts him to No7. “Is that right, I don’t know,” says Searle, “but that’s the way the rankings work.”
Ryan Searle v Jonny Clayton
With all eyes elsewhere, Ryan Searle has quietly strolled into the quarter-finals with a perfect record: 14 sets won, none lost. I still fancy Jonny Clayton, mainly because of his experience. But if I had to put the farm on one of today’s matches going to nine sets, it’d probably be this one.
At the end we’ll have a first-time semi-finalist. Searle has never reached this stage before; Clayton’s only previous quarter-final was three years ago, when he lost 5-3 to Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Preamble
Happy new year one and all. What better way to start 2026 than with a hangover, you’ve bloody done it again haven’t you, and what’s happened to grandad’s bottle of Kopke Colheita 1974 port quarter-final day at Ally Pally?
For darts fans – thoughts with non-darts fans at this difficult time – today is going to be long, gruelling and ceaselessly rewarding. Here’s the line up.
Afternoon session (starts around 12.45pm)
Evening session (around 7.15pm)
