Nathan Aspinall has confessed uncertainty over whether the PDC will maintain its long-term partnership with Saudi Arabia, following questions about the atmosphere at the Riyadh venue. On Monday, eight PDC competitors joined forces with eight Asian players for the first-ever Saudi Arabia Darts Masters at the Global Theatre.

34-year-old Aspinall was amongst the PDC representatives chosen for the competition and kicked off his Saudi Masters journey with a commanding 6-0 victory against Lourence Ilagan. This marked the third encounter between Aspinall and Ilagan within the past month, having previously faced each other at the World Championship and Bahrain Darts Masters.

However, despite securing victory, Aspinall remained unconvinced about the overall ambience within the strangely subdued arena in Riyadh. Following concerns about the lacklustre atmosphere - or complete absence of one - at the Global Theatre, the world No.14 delivered a scathing verdict on the audience, suggesting some spectators "were not all there".

When questioned about whether this could signal the beginning of a prosperous long-term association with Saudi Arabia, Aspinall responded: "I don't know. There is definitely a long way to go. It's certainly different. I am not stupid, I feel like they were not all there off their own accord shall we say. It was quite a small venue but you've got to start somewhere.

"Everything needs to start somewhere and as long as people walk away from this week and say, 'we really enjoyed the darts' and the Saudi Arabian press really enjoy the darts there is no reason why not. I've enjoyed my time out here so far, there is worse places to be. I could be sat in Glossop in the snow, so hopefully we can be back again."

Aspinall was amongst seven PDC players who secured their spots in the quarter-finals in Saudi Arabia, alongside Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Stephen Bunting, Michael van Gerwen, Gian van Veen and Gerwyn Price for Tuesday's matches at the Global Theatre. Completing the final eight is Man Lok Leung, who delivered a shock result by defeating Danny Noppert 6-3, claiming a rare victory for the Asian contingent.

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The Stockport-born player is determined to enjoy a successful campaign in the Middle East following his disappointment at being overlooked for Premier League selection earlier this month. Despite an enhanced performance throughout the season, he was surprisingly omitted by the PDC.

The former World Matchday champion progressed to the final at the Players Championship Finals and reached the quarter-finals at the World Championship, World Masters and UK Open. He also advanced to the semi-finals in the Premier League before his defeat to Luke Humphries at the O2 Arena in London.

Revealing the moment he learnt of his omission from the eight-strong Premier League roster, Aspinall disclosed last week: "The only difference that was hard this year was that we were at an event and I was travelling with Stephen Bunting on a plane and he got a text message at 3.15pm saying he was in, I got a text at 3.21pm saying I wasn't in.

"It was a difficult travel home. Matt Porter explained the reasons why I wasn't in.

I felt like I backdoored it last year, I probably didn't deserve it last year. I felt like I deserved it this year if I did get it.

"You take the rough with the smooth, I am not dwelling on it. I haven't put anything on social media because I can't be bothered with people jumping on it.

"I have accepted the decision, we move forward, and it gives me the hunger and fight to not miss out again."