PDC World Darts Championship 2017: Wednesday Scores, Results, Updated Schedule

James Wade, Mensur Suljovic and Robert Thornton all won to advance in the 2017 PDC Darts World Championship at London's Alexandra Palace on Wednesday. 

Wade was in fine form to beat Ronny Huybrechts in three straight sets. Suljovic had earlier done the same against Ron Meulenkamp, before Robert Thornton ended the night surviving a tough test against Austrian Zoran Lerchbacher.

Lerchbacher played twice after winning in the preliminary round to begin the evening's play.

Here are the scores from Wednesday's preliminary and first-round matches:

Stage	Player	Score	Player
Preliminary	Zoran Lerchbacher	2-1	Simon Stevenson
Round 1	Mensur Suljovic	3-0	Ron Meulenkamp
Round 1	James Wade	3-0	Ronny Huybrechts
Round 1	Robert Thornton	3-0	Zoran Lerchbacher

Here's what the upcoming schedule looks like, per the PDC's official Twitter account:

Recap

Wade entered the night with history on his side, thanks to a fantastic record at this stage, according to 3 Dart Analyst:

Sure enough, The Machine showed his class with an assured display at the oche. However, things didn't follow the script initially, not when Huybrechts broke throw by taking down a 52 checkout.

But Huybrechts couldn't hit bull in the next leg, something Wade made him pay for by finding double nine. An 84 checkout sent Wade on his way to claiming the first set.

Things got better when Wade checked out on 120 to provide the platform for winning the second set. The Machine was putting up some impressive numbers, per Live Darts: 

A double 10 put Wade 2-1 up in the third set. He quickly closed out the next leg to complete a clean sweep.

Wade's a viable contender at the tournament, something he proved with this form.

Earlier, Suljovic and Meulenkamp engaged in a terrific contest. The former was two legs down in the opening set, after Meulenkamp had broken throw to land a monster checkout, per PDC Darts:

Suljovic battled back by taking out 76, before hitting a superb 120. Those efforts evened the set at two legs apiece.

Suljovic then missed a throw on set dart, before hitting double eight to seal the first at 3-2. The comeback seemed to rouse Suljovic, who started the second set in much more assured form.

Suljovic went two up, with Meulenkamp beginning to look rattled. The Dutchman missed on tops for what would have been a 120 checkout and never recovered as Suljovic won the second set without dropping a leg.

However, three maximums helped Meulenkamp apply some pressure in the third set. He was 2-1 in front before Suljovic rallied again.

A 60 checkout left Suljovic throwing for the third set and the match. He didn't waste his chance to complete a worthy win.

Suljovic advanced, but his scoring wasn't particularly impressive, per Live Darts:

The night ended with Thornton taking on Lerchbacher, who had beaten Simon Stevenson in the only preliminary contest. It was the Thorn who took the first set, but only after a hard battle with Lerchbacher.

The pair exchanged breaks, but Lerchbacher missed too many doubles to keep Thornton under pressure. A double 10 from the latter closed out the first set at 3-2.

Thornton sought to assert himself more in the second set. He did so by taking the first two legs, even though he wasn't making the most of his opportunities on doubles, per Live Darts:

Thornton was in complete control with a two-set advantage. But he soon became rattled when he hit the board when aiming for double 16. The gaffe allowed Lerchbacher to go 2-1 ahead in the third set.

Ironically, Thornton had hit an impressive quartet of maximums, but the doubles were still proving a problem. Yet the Scot finally made good on doubles, taking out D12 to book his passage into the second round.