RYAN Searle crashed out of the Winmau World Masters 2026 darts championship at Arena MK when he lost 3-1 in the opening round to former World champion Rob Cross.

Searle, who began playing darts in the Wellington League before turning professional, went into the match as favourite after reaching the semi-finals of the World Championship earlier this year before losing to the eventual winner Luke Littler.

But the world number eight never recovered from a poor start against Cross and quickly found himself 2-0 down. However, he began to find some form and hit back to win the third leg before losing out to the world number 20.

The world’s top 24 automatically qualified for the 32-player event, with the final eight spots coming via a preliminary round qualifer ahead of the tournament.

Another surprise in the first round was the exit of Michael van Gerwen who lost 3-1 against Damon Heta.