Scotland's Gary Anderson survived a massive scare against Jermaine Wattimena, while Michael van Gerwen saw off Max Hopp on day 10 of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Championship on Sunday (NZ time).
Birthday boy Anderson and van Gerwen remain on course for a blockbuster semi-final showdown after both confirmed their spots in the last 16 at the Alexandra Palace in London.
Anderson survived a match dart against Dutchman Wattimena to win 4-3 in a World Championship classic.
'The Flying Scotsman' avoided joining the long list of big-name casualties to have exited the tournament in the early round. Nine of the top 15 ranked players in the world have already been eliminated.
Despite losing the opening leg, two-time world champion Anderson seemed to be running away with the tie as he stormed into a 3-1 lead.
The 48-year-old missed five match darts, and Wattimena made him pay by winning three successive legs to take the match to a deciding set.
Leading 2-0 in the decider, Wattimena missed a match dart at the bullseye for a 170 finish, before Anderson battled back to take the match into a tie-break.
Anderson eventually won the final set 5-3 and will face either Vincent van der Voort or Chris Dobey in the fourth round.
"I should've had that game wrapped up but I made a complete mess of it and fair play to Jermaine he came back well," said Anderson.
"This is one of those tournaments where anything could happen but I'm going to give it my best to win title number three."
Dutchman van Gerwen also continued his bid for a third world title with a convincing 4-1 win over Hopp. The world number one was at his relentless best as he dropped just one leg on his way to a 3-0 lead, capping off the third set with a magnificent 170 finish.
Hopp battled back to win the fourth set, but van Gerwen went onto win the fifth set to confirm his spot in the next round where he will meet either two-time world champion Adrian Lewis or Lithuanian qualifier Darius Labanauskas.
Earlier in the day, Northern Ireland's Darryl Gurney joined the growing list of casualties when he lost to Welshman Jamie Lewis 4-3.
Fifth-seed Gurney joins Peter Wright, Mensur Suljovic, Gerwyn Price, Simon Whitlock and Raymond van Barneveld who all lost in the second round.
Lewis, who beat Kiwi Cody Harris to reach the third round, led 3-1, but couldn't close as the match as Gurney produced some magic to force a final set.
But it was Lewis who prevailed, and he'll face England's Dave Chisnall who reached the last 16 after a conniving 4-0 win over Belgium's Kim Huybrechts.
Unseeded English pair Ryan Seale and Ryan Joyce are also through to the fourth round in their debut tournaments.
Seale had a convincing 4-1 win over William O'Connor and will face either England's Michael Smith or Scotland's John Henderson in the next round.
Joyce scraped past Scotsman Alan Norris 4-3 and will compete in an all-England affair in the fourth round against either James Wade or Keegan Brown.
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