FAIRFORD’S Lee Evans will battle for a place in the fourth round of the UK Open tonight having sailed through the second round with a 6-2 win over Austrian Rowby-John Rodriguez.

On what was a disappointing day for Swindon’s players, Dennis Smith, Johnny Haines and Mark Cox all exited at the first round, to Alex Roy (6-1), Gary Stone (6-5) and Wes Newton (6-4) respectively.

Evans, from Fairford, got off to the perfect start as a 180 helped him to take the first leg.

Evans held his nerve to take a two-leg lead when he found double five at the third time of asking, however, 21-year-old Rodriguez pulled a leg back in the third courtesy of a 180 of his own.

Evans immediatley restored his two-leg advantage with a 25 checkout, before extending his lead in the fifth leg.

Evans missed four shots at 32 before clinching the sixth leg and could have secured the tie in the seventh but missed his chance at double-top.

However, a double eight in the eighth leg booked his place in the next round.

Meanwhile, Smith missed three arrows at double top as Roy took the first leg in their first round encounter on the main stage.

Roy pressed home his advantage in the second leg as he checked out from 72 to take a two-leg lead.

Smith, who plays out of the Fox and Hounds pub in Haydon Wick, pulled a leg back in the third but Roy was able to re-establish his two-leg advantage in the next leg with a checkout of 76.

Smith fluffed three darts at double-top in the fifth leg to hand Roy a three-leg advantage, with the 46-year-old’s double success rate falling to just 13 per cent.

Double-top proved to be Smith’s nemesis again in leg six as he missed the chance to close the gap before Roy showed him how it was done to take a four-leg lead.

Roy completed the straight-forward win in the next leg to take the match 6-1 and progress to the second round.