There was never more than one leg between the two players throughout but Taylor managed to come through and set up a clash with Colin Lloyd, who the Stoke star defeated at the same stage of last year's competition.

Taylor said: "Terry's great under pressure and he took some superb finishes out with his last dart. It was a really tough game and I'm relieved to be through.

"I'm here to win and I'll look forward to the quarter-finals now against Colin Lloyd on Sunday, and hopefully I can go all the way."

Jenkins admitted: "I felt I had my chance there and blew it. When I broke Phil and went 4-3 up I threw away a couple of legs and let him back in, but I've no complaints."

Adrian Lewis also came through a final-leg thriller at the Circus Tavern to beat Andy Hamilton.

Both players had a chance to win the match before Lewis, who had led 6-3 and 7-5, finally sealed it to set up an eye-catching quarter-final clash against Paul Nicholson.

Lewis said: "It was a cracking game. We both showed lots of bottle and played well.

"Andy took some good finishes out at key times and came back at me, and it was a tough game where I had to keep digging in and trying.

"I'll look forward to playing Paul Nicholson now. He beat me in the World Championship a year ago but I'm a different player now, and I've got to keep my concentration."

Hamilton added: "It was a great game to be a part of and Adrian was brilliant."

Also in the evening session, Mervyn King breezed to an 8-1 victory over Jelle Klaasen.

King put in a clinical display and did not allow his Dutch opponent to produce the kind of form he showed in his first round game against Gary Anderson, as Klaasen endured a nightmare display.

While his average dipped to just 82 a day on from his superb defeat of Anderson, King again averaged over 100 and landed five maximums in a clinical victory.

He said: "That was a hard game to play because Jelle had a nightmare by his standards. I feel for him because we've all been there as players, and although it was in my favour it was an awkward match."

In the last match of the night, Colin Osborne beat Michael van Gerwen 8-2.

After a bright start from Van Gerwen, Osborne got into his stride to knock another Dutchman out, having defeated Co Stompe in his opening match.

Osborne meets Wes Newton in the quarter-finals.

In the afternoon, Lloyd made a thrilling comeback to defeat Kevin Painter 8-4 with an impressive performance.

Lloyd hit back from 4-2 down to win six successive legs in booking a quarter-final place, prevailing in a high-quality battle of the Essex-born stars.

Lloyd finished the game with an average of 102.35 and said: "It was a fantastic game to be involved in. I was battling throughout and an 8-4 scoreline doesn't really reflect the game, but I'll take it.

"I'll have to improve a bit if I'm going to win this but I know there's a bit more in the tank. I can lift my game to 104 and hopefully that will be enough."

Wayne Jones also took six successive legs to make a fine comeback from 5-2 down in knocking out number two seed Mark Walsh.

Jones will now take on either King in the quarter-finals, having trailed 3-1 early on and also 5-2 before an 11-darter turned the contest around and he powered to victory.

"I'm very pleased with the result," said Jones. "I was annoyed at 3-1 down and had to try and break Mark's throw to get back into the game, which I did, and at five-all I kicked on and got the win."

Fleetwood's Newton won another local derby with an 8-7 victory against Blackpool's Ronnie Baxter in a thrilling contest to secure his last-eight spot.

Newton led 5-2 and 7-5 but five missed match darts allowed Baxter to level and send the game into a decider, which the world number 24 took to seal victory.

And Nicholson, the 2009 Australian Open Players Championship winner, followed up Thursday's win over Dennis Priestley with a defeat of another former World Champion in round two, seeing off Steve Beaton 8-5.