BASINGSTOKE'S Colin Monk suffered heartbreak at the Embassy World Darts Championships as he lost in the first round after a tense fifth set tie-break with Finland's Marko Pusa.

The ice-cool qualifier, making his debut at the Lakeside Country Club, showed no sign of nerves in the early stages as he raced into a 2-0 lead in sets as Monk, the tournament's eighth seed, failed to find his form.

However, just one set away from victory and with the advantage of throwing first, Pusa began to wobble in sight of the finishing line as Monk began to hit his doubles to reduce the advantage.

The fourth set saw both players begin to miss vital out-shots as the tension began to mount.

With the score at two legs each, Pusa had one dart for double top to take the match which he missed before Monk stepped up to sink the same shot with one dart to ensure that the match would go the full distance.

Having stared defeat in the face, the Basingstoke builder took the opening leg of the fifth set against the darts before extending his lead to 2-0.

Monk then had darts in both the third and fourth legs to secure victory but failed to take his chances as the match went into a deciding leg at 5-5.

Throwing closest for the bull, the tension began to get to both players as, firstly, the Finn misunderstood the instructions and hit treble 20 before retaking his throw and scoring 25.

Surprisingly, Monk failed to match this effort, giving Pusa the throw in the deciding leg.

In the closing stages, Pusa hit a timely 180 to leave himself with 40 to win. Monk was unable to finish off 167 and the qualifier hit the winning shot with the last of his three darts.

It was the first time Monk had ever lost in the first round at the Embassy Championship after being ever-present since 1994.

He finished with a three-dart average of 30.34, better than Pusa's 29.78, but still left the Lakeside a loser, taking away £2,600 in prize money.

Monk said: "I gave it away in the first two sets, but having gone up by two legs in the final set I should've won it from there.

"In the final leg I didn't score well and didn't get my nose in front.

"Then he hit me with a 180 and I have to say he deserved to win it in the end.

"It's hard to take losing in the first round, but as long as I give my supporters a good time then I'm happy."