Beaton made to struggle in Ally Pally opener

The former Lakeside champion was pushed early on in his 3-0 first-round win over Australia’s Kyle Anderson, with the Oceanic Masters winner taking both of the first two sets to a deciding leg.

The third set proved to be a far more comfortable one for Beaton, as he won it without reply, landing 174 to leave 36 as he took the first before producing legs of 15 and 14 darts to end Anderson’s hopes.

“I’m glad to get through and I can settle down and get on with things in the second round,” said Beaton, who will meet James Wade on Sunday afternoon.

“All my plans went out of the window when I got on stage and, to be fair to Kyle, he could have been 2-0 up too but he missed chances and I made the most of it.”

Beaton, who lost to Simon Whitlock in the second round 12 months ago, has never reached a PDC World Championship quarter-final and he knows he will need to raise his game to get past third seed Wade.

He said: “I know what to expect [from Wade] and I’ll prepare properly for that.”