Van Gerwen had been scheduled to face England's Chris Dobey for a place in the fourth round tonight.

He is the latest player to be forced out of the Professional Darts Corporation event after contracting COVID-19.

The other two - Vincent van der Voort and Raymond van Barneveld - are also from The Netherlands.

Dobey receives a bye into the next round following Van Gerwen's withdrawal.

In the afternoon session, England's Mervyn King whitewashed Steve Lennon of Ireland to reach the last 16.

King, a two-time world champion on the British Darts Organisation circuit, punished Lennon for his mistakes in a 4-0 thrashing at Alexandra Palace.

Australian Raymond Smith awaits for King in the fourth round.

"He missed a lot of doubles," said King.

"I gave him a lot of chances and he didn't take them.

"Then I took my chances.

"It was not a fantastic game but I was just a little bit more on it than he was.

"If I play the way I want to play, I will have a lot of fun up there."

Ryan Searle of England is also through after a comeback victory over Danny Noppert of The Netherlands.

Searle trailed 2-0 but roared back by winning six straight legs on his way to a 4-2 victory.

Dutch debutant Martijn Kleermaker continued his fairytale start to the tournament as he progressed thanks to a narrow 4-3 triumph in his clash with England's Joe Cullen.

In the evening session, 2018 world champion Rob Cross of England defeated Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney 4-3 in a high-quality encounter at Alexandra Palace in London.

Five of the seven sets went to deciding legs while the players scored 23 180s between them.

Cross took a 3-1 lead before Gurney roared back to force a deciding set, which Cross took with a 170 checkout.

The evening's other match saw Scotland's Peter Wright, the 2020 world champion, come from 2-0 down to defeat Australia's Damon Heta 4-2.