Teenager Luke Littler continued his dream PDC World Championship debut as he defeated UK Open champion Andrew Gilding to reach the third round.

The 16-year-old went 2-0 up and held his nerve to see out an impressive 3-1 win over his fellow Englishman.

“When I went 2-0 up, I lost all my energy,” Littler told Sky Sports.

“When Andrew got the set back I was just thinking, ‘Just try and win it’. I didn’t want to go 2-2 on this stage. I was nervous as it is.”

Gilding, the 20th seed, is 37 years older than Littler but it was the youngster who exhibited the greater composure to advance and book a spot in the last 32 against Canada’s Matt Campbell.

England’s Scott Williams came agonisingly close to a superb nine-dart finish in a comprehensive 3-0 upset of Dutch seventh seed Danny Noppert, while Germany’s Gabriel Clemens, a semi-finalist last year, defeated Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung 3-1.

England’s 2018 champion Rob Cross also reached the third round with a 3-0 win over France’s Thibault Tricole.

Eighth seed Cross took advantage of an opponent gripped by nerves with France’s Tricole missing 13 attempts at double during an error-strewn first set.

Cross was then able to display his class with an excellent 114 checkout to move 2-0 up before sealing his victory.

Thursday’s results

Afternoon session:

Mickey Mansell (NI) 3-0 Xiaochen Zong (Chn)

Luke Woodhouse (Eng) 2-3 Berry van Peer (Ned)

Madars Razma (Lat) 3-1 Mike de Decker (Bel)

Rob Cross (Eng) 3-0 Thibault Tricole (Fra)

Evening session:

Andrew Gilding (Eng) 1-3 Luke Littler (Eng)

Danny Noppert (Ned) 0-3 Scott Williams (Eng)

Gabriel Clemens (Ger) 3-1 Man Lok Leung (HK)

Damon Heta (Aus) 3-1 Martin Lukeman (Eng)