Adrian Lewis registered a nine-dart finish, but it was not enough to see him into the quarter-finals of the World Championships after losing 4-3 to Raymond van Barneveld tonight.

The two-time champion brought the Alexandra Palace crowd to their feet by checking out within nine darts to move into a one-set lead in the night's opening encounter.

The Dutchman ultimately found his rhythm and drew level but 'Jackpot' looked in fine form as he edged into a 2-1 lead in the first-to-four match.

Barney pegged him back once more before falling behind again, but Van Barneveld, a five-time world champion, showed his pedigree to level up the match at three sets apiece.

He then took out 78 in the deciding set to move within one leg of the match, before rattling off 180, 100 and 130 and checking out on double 10 to seal his place in the last eight.

The following match was not without its share of drama, too, as 16-time champion Phil Taylor survived a scare to beat Kim Huybrechts 4-3 and keep his hopes of a 17th title alive.

Despite coming into the clash as a big underdog, Huybrechts took the game to the Power and cruised into a one-set lead, but Taylor levelled up shortly after.

Unperturbed, the Belgian continued on in the same vein and moved 2-1 ahead and looked to rile Taylor with his celebrations, but the Stoke-on-Trent thrower reminded Huybrechts of his stature by swiftly winning the fourth set 3-0 in legs.

Huybrechts went 3-2 ahead to move within one set of a giant-killing, but Taylor took out a crucial 96 to level up once more, before comfortably closing out the game from there.

Elsewhere, Stephen Bunting also survived a scare to beat Michael Smith and set up a quarter-final clash with Van Barneveld.

Bunting, who thumped James Wade 4-1 on Monday, took a three-set lead, but Smith, who managed checkouts of 170, 161 132, 121 and 106 throughout the match, moved to within one of parity.

However, the St Helens thrower ended the youngster's comeback bid by eventually closing the game out with a 4-2 win.