Stephen Bunting was the highest-profile casualty on day one of the New Zealand Darts Masters as he was dumped out of the last 16 by Raymond Smith in Auckland. Smith reeled off five unanswered legs en route to a 6-2 victory over third seed Bunting, averaging 99.81 and notably sealing victory with a 124 checkout on the bullseye.

Smith's reward for beating Bunting is a quarter-final tie against fellow Australian Adam Leek, who survived six match darts against Ross Smith to secure victory. Meanwhile, top seed Gian van Veen averaged more than 97 in a 6-1 demolition of New Zealand's Jonny Tata.

Other notable results saw Gerwyn Price breeze past Mark Cleaver 6-1 to set up a quarter-final tie with Damon Heta. Josh Rock and James Wade also progress to the next round after overcoming Simon Whitlock and Kayden Milne, respectively.