Darts: Mardle aims to turn off 'The Power' at Purfleet

Phil Taylor is convinced he will need to play as well as he ever has when he meets Wayne Mardle in the last 16 of the PDC World Championships in Purfleet tonight.

'The Power' breezed into the last 16 with a superb 4-1 victory over America's Steve Brown on Saturday, finishing the match with a three-dart average of 103. That success set up a meeting with rising star Mardle, the 29-year-old from Dagenham who has been tipped to become a future world champion and has impressed with two excellent victories against the American Ray Carver and Peter Evison in his first two matches.

Mardle beat Taylor a month ago in the UK Open Southern Regional quarter-finals, but the 10-times world champion was quick to shrug off the significance of that defeat – especially as the match was only played over the best of nine legs.

"It was a lot shorter format and it's forgotten now," said Taylor. "People keep going on about it, but the next one is going to be a cracker."

Their third-round match will be played over the best of nine sets and Taylor claimed he would have to raise his average to defeat Mardle and continue his bid for an 11th world title. "He's going to play well and I'm going to have to play better," Taylor added. "I'll probably need about [an average of] 112 in the next match."

Mardle, the world No 28, made the switch from the Professional Darts Corporation's rival, the British Darts Organisation, earlier this year and has since shot up the rankings thanks to some consistent performances. Nicknamed 'Hawaii 501' due to his colourful attire on stage, Mardle remained confident of his chances of victory against Taylor, buoyed by his recent success against the world champion.

"I can outscore anyone and if I hit my doubles, the man's in trouble," he said. "The way I score I'll always give myself chances. Phil is the greatest darts player that's ever lived, but that doesn't mean he's not beatable.

"I've beaten him before and if I play my game there's no reason why I can't beat him again."

The fifth-seeded Dutchman Roland Scholten will also be on the oche today, against Surrey's Dave Askew, while Dennis Smith plays Denis Ovens and the fourth seed Alan Warriner takes on Les Fitton in other third-round games.