DAVE Chisnall and Michael Smith have made it through to the third round of the prestigious World Darts Championships.

The St Helens pair will be in action on Thursday afternoon at London’s Alexandra Palace looking to progress into the quarter finals of the sport’s showpiece £1.65m tournament.

Number seven seed Chisnall has impressed so far, and he will play the winner of this afternoon's match between Jelle Klaasen and Brendan Dolan.

Clock Face darter Smith, seeded number 11 in the competition, takes on  sixth-ranked James Wade as he seeks a spot in the last eight.

Chisnall came into the tournament in good form and he carried that on with the way he finished Tuesday’s second round.

He held his nerve against impressive Ally Pally debutant Chris Dobey who had tasted first round success over Justin Pipe.

Chisnall won six out of the last seven legs to go through.

Chisnall, who has reached three televised finals in 2016, had six 180s and a 110 checkout in the victory, which set up a third round clash with either Jelle Klaasen or Brendan Dolan.

“I had to dig deep again - a bit like in my first game,” said Chisnall, who defeated Rowby-John Rodriguez in a deciding set in round one.

“I’ve not really got going yet. I’ve managed to do the job twice so I’m happy and I know that there is more to come.”

So far all the big guns have gone through with few of the top 16 seeds being eliminated in the opening two rounds.

The quarter finals take place on Friday, with the semis on New Year’s Day and the finale on Monday, January 2, starting at 8pm.