Phil Taylor made a brilliant start to his defence of the PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts with a whitewash of Phill Nixon on the tournament's opening afternoon.

Taylor showed no mercy in seeing off the former BDO World Championship runner-up with a 107.36 average, and used 15 darts or less in every leg.

"It's a great start and I know I can look forward to the next two group games now," said Taylor. "I put Phill under pressure from the start and kept it up."

Saturday's first session also featured a win for current PDC world champion John Part, who overcame a dodgy start to defeat women's world champion Anastasia Dobromyslova 5-1.

The female Russian star missed nine darts at a double in the first two legs to let Part off the hook, and the Canadian eventually powered to victory.

"I lost my first game last year and still won the group so Anastasia has still got a chance," said Part.

Dobromyslova now has to defeat the loser of the clash between Wayne Mardle and Kevin McDine to stay in the tournament, and said: "I missed my doubles and that was the difference - it's the most important part of the game and I know I can do better."

Mark Webster, reigning BDO world champion, suffered the biggest upset of the opening afternoon with a 5-4 defeat to Colin McGarry.

Northern Ireland's McGarry, an wildcard qualifier, took a 3-0 lead and held off the Welshman's comeback to claim a memorable victory.

"I started slowly and it's very hard to come back from being 3-0 down," said Webster. "I didn't play well at all and I have to rectify that on Sunday and Monday or I'll be going home early."

2007 Grand Slam of Darts runner-up Andy Hamilton hit an impressive 105 average in defeating Brian Woods 5-3, while Denis Ovens defeated Adrian Lewis 5-2 with a strong opening display which leaves Group G, which also includes James Wade and Niels de Ruiter, wide open.

America's Darin Young came from 3-0 down to defeat Terry Jenkins in a deciding leg, while Darryl Fitton took three successive legs to secure a 5-2 win over Kevin Painter.

Scotland's Robert Thornton overcame an injured Gary Mawson 5-3, with the American limping through the pain of a broken toe after injuring himself when his Harley Davidson motorbike fell on his foot recently.

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