Benito van de Pas has revealed that his fighting spirit was the key to overcoming Paul Nicholson at the PDC World Championship this afternoon.

The 21-year-old Dutchman, who was making his debut in the showpiece tournament, managed to battle past The Asset 3-2 at Alexandra Palace to book his spot in the second round.

"That was awesome," Van de Pas told pdc.tv. "I started really well, but the second and the third set I wasn't playing very well so just had to stay in it.

"I've played really well on the floor all season and played well in some Players Championship events, and what I learnt there is that you just have to fight and fight to get anything."

Elsewhere in the afternoon session on day four of the competition, Welshman Mark Webster saw off another Dutch debutant in Ron Meulenkamp with a 3-1 win, while Kevin Painter advanced through courtesy of a 3-1 victory against qualifier Boris Koltsov.