BOLTON darter Lisa Ashton made a successful start to the defence of her BDO World Championship title at the Lakeside Country Club on Saturday.

In a re-run of last year's final, the 44-year-old beat number one seed Deta Hedman 2-1 in sets at Frimley Green to progress to the last eight.

On the opening day of the championships, Ashton took the first set but Hedman, who had been 2-0 up in last year's final only to lose 3-2, levelled the first-round clash with a fine 152 checkout in the second set.

But champion Ashton, nicknamed the 'Lancashire Rose', bounced back with an even-bigger checkout of 156 – the highest in the ladies' championship – to win the third and deciding set having hit two maximumx in the victory.

Ashton will now face the winner of today's clash between fellow England international Trina Gulliver and Anneke Kuijten of the Netherlands in Thursday's quarter-finals.