ROBERT THORNTON 3-1 IAN WHITE

ROBERT THORNTON booked a place in the last 32 of the 2012 Ladbrokes World Darts Championship with a four-set triumph against Stoke's Ian White.

The Scotsman will now face Adrian Lewis next Thursday - who defeated Thornton on his way to the world title, 12 months ago.

Both players held throw comfortably in the opening two legs of the match and that sequence continued as Thornton hit a clinical 101 finish to claim the third.

White hit double four to win the fourth but Thornton took the deciding leg to establish an early lead by hitting double 19 with his third dart.

White hit a maximum in the process of claiming the first leg of set two before both players in 180s in the next.

Thornton was first to a finish but wasted four chances at double nine to allow White to step in and hit double four and secure a break of throw.

The third leg saw White miss a dart at double top for a 125 finish, which would have given him the set, and Thornton landed double 18 to nick the leg.

White missed a second dart at tops to win the set in the fourth leg but Thornton was off-target four darts at doubles, and the man from Stoke hit double five with a pressure last dart to level the match.

Thornton hit double seven to win the opening leg of set three but was guilty of missing three darts at doubles to win the second, which allowed White to level.

The Scotsman hit a 13-dart-finish to claim the third leg but his opponent replied with one of his own to force a deciding leg.

Thornton had advantage of throw and a timely 180 allowed the world number thirty-one to pull clear and the leg was won in 13-darts to lead the match for the second time.

White made a good start to the fourth set by hitting double top to take the opening leg and an accurate attempt at double 10 secured a break of throw.

Thornton, who has been knocked out in the third round of this competition, the previous two years, hit a 12-darter to break-back and then hit double top to take the fourth leg.

The Scotsman then produced some excellent scoring to leave 81 after nine darts thrown, and he returned to the oche to complete an 11-dart-finish to seal the match in style.