Alan Soutar saw his Interwetten International Darts Open end in the last 16 after giving world number 2 Peter Wright a fright.
The Arbroath ace had four doubles to take a 5-4 lead but missed three times on 10s as Wright saw out a 6-4 win.
That denied the Dundee firefighter a quarter-final clash with top seed Michael van Gerwen but he still adds £4,000 onto his ranking.
WRIGHT WINS! 🏴
It wasn't pretty, but Peter Wright overcomes Alan Soutar 6-4 in a scrappy all-Scottish affair!
Wright will now play Michael van Gerwen in tonight's opening quarter-final! 👀
🔜 Dave Chisnall v Jonny Clayton
📺 https://t.co/M782z4qQ7i | #ET3 L16 pic.twitter.com/csl3XPSkUR— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) April 2, 2023
Soutar was one of just three unseeded players to reach the third round.
He comfortably saw off world number 12 Joe Cullen on Saturday to set up the last 16 clash with a 126 checkout the highlight of a 6-2 win.
The challenge against fellow Scot and world number 2 Wright was always going to be a step up from the Cullen clash.
Alan Soutar opens game with ton-plus check-out
But Soots got off to the perfect start as he took the opening leg with a 104 checkout.
Wright battled back to win the second leg but it stayed on throw as Soots took out double ten in leg three.
But Wright squared it up at 2-2 with a 106 checkout and broke Soutar’s throw with a 76 in leg five.
Soutar missed the chance to take out the same score in the sixth leg but held his nerve on double 4 to square it at 3-3.
The pair then both registered their first 180s in leg 7, with Soots taking out his favourite double 18 to go into the lead.
Wright was struggling for form but pulled a 100 out of the bag to make it 4-4.
Soots missed four check-outs in leg nine.
And Wright edged ahead as Soutar suffered he misfortune of two bounce outs, with the two-times world champion eventually winning 6-4.
Alan Soutar discusses World Cup hopes
Soots is still dreaming of teaming up with Wright for the World Cup in the summer but concedes that is likely to be dependent on Gary Anderson’s desire to compete.
The two highest ranked available players from each country pair up in the international doubles tournament.
“If you’re not number two then you don’t deserve to be in the World Cup,” Soots told Online Darts ahead of the Wright match.
“I’ve always been the number three player over the last two years so I don’t deserve to be in it.
“If Gary and Peter play in it then good luck to them. I’ll support them every step of the way as I’m Scottish.”
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