Daniel Klose took full advantage of his late call up with both hands as he secured victory on the second day of the Neo.Bet Austrian Darts Open. The German wasn’t called up off the reserve list until Friday afternoon when Gerwyn Price pulled out with a trapped nerve in his back. Facing an under par Andrew Gilding who has lost 3 of his last 4 European Tour matches and only averaged 87. Klose took full advantage winning 6-2 to book his place in Sunday’s third round.

Elsewhere Ross Smith and Josh Rock both progressed having won epic ties in the second round. Ross Smith hit a 12 dart winning in leg to defeat 5 time champion of the world Raymond van Barneveld 6-5. Both players exchanged heavy scoring with 43 scores of a 140 or more and both averaging well over a 100. Ross Smith ending the match just shy of 106.

And if the crowd weren’t entertained enough by that spectacle they were given another treat in the very next game as Josh Rock also beat Dimitri Van den Bergh in a last leg shoot out. After exchanging 8 holds of throw the Belgian broke in the 9th leg to go one away from the winning line only to be broken in the very next leg. In the decider Rock had to watch as Van den Bergh threw 3 match darts to see all 3 miss before clinching victory and booking a tie against Danny Noppert in the third round.

European dream continues

It was a case of déjà vu for Dirk van Duijvenbode as he succumbed to a second successive European Tour defeat to Ritchie Edhouse. Madhouse who is enjoying life on the continent once again booked his place in Sunday’s action courtesy of a 6-2 victory.

Another player who has projected his career on the European Tour this year is Martin Schindler. Today was no different – in the first match of the evening the German number 1 hammered compatriot Ricardo Pietreczko 6-0. The wall averaged over 101 and hit 4 maximums to book his place in the last 16.

Big wins for MVG and Clayton

Michael van Gerwen and Jonny Clayton both won big to book their places in Sunday’s third round. Both have recently struggled to find their best game but showed glimpses they were on the right track in the second round.

Michael van Gerwen eased past fellow Dutch darter Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-1.  The Green Machine hit 5 maximums and averaged over 102 whilst also restricting his opponent to only 5 darts at a double.

 

Whilst the score line suggested a very one sided affair as Jonny Clayton beat Chris Dobey 6-1 it was a case of double trouble for Hollywood as he missed 12 darts at the double. Whilst he wasn’t at his best after a tricky start to 2024 the Ferret will be glad to make it to a Sunday and will be hopeful of kick starting his season but will face a tricky opponent in Martin Schindler.

Top seed squeezes through

Despite averaging 5 points less than his opponent Dave Chisnall booked his place in round 3 in the last of the afternoon’s matches. Having struggled over the last few weeks on the European Tour Chizzy will be relieved to have got past Brendan Dolan 6-4. His reward for winning is a clash with Joe Cullen.

Afternoon round-up

In the first match of the day Dom Taylor was unable to follow up his performance on Friday after falling to a 6-2 defeat against Krzysztof Ratajski. The Polish Eagle raced into a 5-1 lead and held his throw in the eighth leg to get over the line.

In a tasty all Dutch clash of high quality Danny Noppert got the better of Wessel Nijman by six legs to 3. Noppert hit 60% on the doubles, 5 180’s and 101 average as he looks forward to another tasty clash in round 3 against Josh Rock.

Elsewhere Stephen Bunting booked his place courtesy of a 6-5 win against Richard Veenstra after hitting the first big fish of the weekend in the third leg. It was the same score line in the Ryan Searle and Gian van Veen. With 5 maximums and 11 legs going with throw it was the young Dutch darter who booked his place in the next round courtesy of winning the bull before getting up on stage.

They say that big fish are like buses as soon as one comes, it soon followed by another one and that’s exactly what the Austrian crowd were treated to when Joe Cullen hit the magical outshot in the opening leg of his match against Darius Labanauskas. After a week where Cullen spoke to Online Darts about travelling to Europe for Pro Tours and his social media break the Rockstar got back to winning ways with a 102 average and a 6-3 victory.

Daryl Gurney was the other winner of the afternoon defeating Rob Cross by six legs to 4. Cross who 2 nights ago made it to the final of night 13 in the Premier League was unable to find the same form as he didn’t register a single maximum. In contrast Superchin hit 4 and averaged over a ton as he made his fourth successive European Tour third round.

Evening round-up

Peter Wright put the disappointment of another quarter-final defeat in this years Premier League behind him after holding off a spirited fight back from Danny Lauby. Despite the Scotsman leading 4-1 and 5-3 the American forced a last leg decider only for Snakebite to eventually get over the line.

In the final match of the evening Luke Littler once again showed us what he is capable of as he got the better of Damon Heta by six legs to two. After seeing Australia’s number 1 square the game up at 2-2 after being 2-0 down the Nuke then turned on the heat and win 4 legs on the trot to comfortably make it through to round 3.  With 4 maximums and a 106 average he’ll be hoping for a slightly better success on the doubles if he is to go deep in the tournament.

Neo.Bet Austrian Darts Open results

Round 2
Krzysztof Ratajski 6|2 Dom Taylor
Danny Noppert 6|3 Wessel Nijman
Ritchie Edhouse 6|2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Stephen Bunting 6|5 Richard Veenstra
Gian van Veen 6|5 Ryan Searle
Joe Cullen 6|3 Darius Labanauskas
Daryl Gurney 6|4 Rob Cross
Dave Chisnall 6|4 Brendan Dolan
Martin Schindler 6|0 Ricardo Pietreczko
Daniel Klose 6|2 Andrew Gilding
Ross Smith 6|5 Raymond van Barneveld
Josh Rock 6|5 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Michael van Gerwen 6|1 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Peter Wright 6|5 Danny Lauby
Jonny Clayton 6|1 Chris Dobey
Luke Littler 6|2 Damon Heta