Overview
- Organisers confirmed Saturday’s order of play, with Luke Littler facing Mensur Suljovic in the evening session after five other third-round ties.
- Sunday features Luke Humphries vs Gabriel Clemens and Michael van Gerwen vs Arno Merk in the evening, with Gary Anderson playing Jermaine Wattimena in the afternoon.
- Rounds three and four run December 27–30 with matches extended to best-of-seven sets, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final from January 1–3.
- A record number of seeds departed before the break, including Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright, Michael Smith and sixth seed Danny Noppert, who fell to debutant Justin Hood.
- Dom Taylor was removed after a positive doping test that handed Jonny Clayton a walkover, and Cameron Menzies’ on-stage incident is under DRA review.