In the first match of the afternoon session, England’s Mervyn King overturned 2-0 and 3-1 set deficits to triumph 4-3 at the expense of Australian Raymond Smith.

Smith edged a tight first set by three legs to two but won sets two and four without dropping a leg to put himself a set away from victory.

The 21^st seed King stormed back winning the next three sets for the loss of just a single leg as he completed a dramatic comeback.

The other match in the session that went the distance saw England’s Luke Humphries, the 19^th seed, beat compatriot Chris Dobey, seeded 30^th, 4-3.

Dobey took the first set in a deciding leg and won the second without dropping a leg to open up a 2-0 lead.

Dobey then won the fourth set by three legs to two to put himself a set away from victory before Humphries fought back in this back and forth match, winning the next two sets 3-1 to set up a decider.

With a player required to win a deciding set by two clear legs, extra legs were required with Humphries eventually prevailing in a tense and thrilling encounter by five legs to three to secure his quarter-final spot.

The afternoon’s other match saw England’s Callan Rydz come from a set down to defeat Scotland’s Alan Soutar 4-1.

Soutar won the first set by three legs to one but from that point Rydz ran away with proceedings, winning the next four sets for the loss of just a single leg.