England’s Luke Humphries and Luke Littler defeated the Spanish pairing of Cristo Reyes and Jose Justicia 8-5 to set up a quarter-final against Wales at the World Cup of Darts.
The number one seeds, who were entering the tournament in the second round, took a 3-0 lead in their opening match in Frankfurt, before their unseeded opponents broke back in the fifth leg.
The two pairs went leg for leg until Littler found a double six for a 6-4 lead, and the world’s top two ranked players went on to close out the match.
“That was probably about six out of 10. We knew it was going to be that way, that we wouldn’t average what we do in the Premier League,” Humphries told Sky Sports.
“I’m proud of the way we fought back. It wasn’t the worst performance in the world. It wasn’t our best, but having got through our first game we can relax and play how we know we can tomorrow.
“We’ve had a good test there, so hopefully that pays dividends tomorrow.”
The duo, who made a shock exit to Germany at this stage last year, will face seventh seeds Wales in Sunday’s quarter-finals after Jonny Clayton and Nick Kenny defeated the United States 8-5.
Meanwhile, defending champions and third seeds Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney got Northern Ireland through, winning a tight opening fixture against Belgium 8-7, setting up a tie with Latvia who beat France by the same score.
Fourth seeds Scotland, represented by Gary Anderson and Cameron Menzies, started their campaign with an 8-0 thrashing of Norway, and will face Ireland in the quarter-finals after William O’Connor and Mickey Mansell beat Poland 8-5.
The last quarter-final will pit the Netherlands against Germany, after they beat the Czech Republic and Sweden 8-6 respectively.
The tournament concludes on Sunday with the 15-leg quarter-finals and semi-finals, before a 19-leg final.