De Decker survives a huge scare on home soil to set up Humphries rematch as the Euro Tour returns

After weathering a serious scare against Thomas Lovely in Wieze, Mike De Decker will rekindle his rivalry with Luke Humphries at the Lecot Belgian Darts Open on Saturday.

De Decker was the star of the first European Tour tournament of the year, and he pleased his partisan home fans with a late salvo at the Oktoberhallen on the first day of the event.

Lovely created a 5-4 lead, threatening De Decker with a shock exit. However, De Decker capitalised to finish the turnaround after surviving two match darts in the penultimate leg.

In round two of the rematch of the World Grand Prix, the 29-year-old will now face world number one Humphries in front of the world’s largest audience.

“This crowd have been amazing for the last four years, and I’m so happy I could get through for them tonight,” reflected a relieved De Decker.

“I just wanted to play well. I was playing really well backstage, but I’m still trying to find confidence with my set-up.

“Tomorrow I might ask Luke if we can play double-in double-out, because then I know I can win!”

Despite two of the four Host Nation Qualifiers forcing well-known opponents to shootouts in the last leg, De Decker was the only Belgian to advance on home territory.

Before former European Champion Ross Smith overcame upstart Sybren Gijbels by the identical 6-5 score, Wessel Nijman defeated Francois Schweyen in a final despite a heroic comeback.

On their first European Tour appearances, Cedric Waegemans and Patrick De Backer were also defeated, falling to Luke Woodhouse and Jermaine Wattimena, respectively.

The highlight of Friday’s action was Daryl Gurney, who defeated Thibault Tricole 6-1 and advanced to face Danny Noppert in the second round with an average of 106 and two ton-plus finishes.

Among the other well-known first-round winners was Michael Smith, who defeated a determined Ryan Joyce 6-5 after executing an incredible 125 finish on the bull.

Josh Rock, a semi-finalist in the UK Open, averaged over 99 in the loss against Croatia’s Boris Krcmar, who pulled off the upset of the day in Wieze by winning five straight legs after trailing 3-1.

Dutch players Dirk van Duijvenbode and Gian van Veen also celebrated triumphs after overcoming deficits of 4-1 against James Hurrell and Darius Labanauskas, respectively.

Van Veen produced a five-leg blitz of his own to set up a match against Gerwyn Price, while Van Duijvenbode stunned Labanauskas with five consecutive legs in 12, 13, 11, 12, and 16 darts.

Raymond van Barneveld joined his compatriots in the second round on Saturday, overcoming Cam Crabtree, a rookie on the European Tour, to advance to face James Wade, the runner-up at the UK Open.

In a thrilling match, European Champion Ritchie Edhouse defeated Owen Bates 6-4. He will now face a revitalised Nathan Aspinall for a spot in the round of 16.

In the closing moments of his match against Jim Long, German number one Martin Schindler stepped up the ante, winning five consecutive legs after falling down 3-1 and pulling off a stunning 170 finish to clinch the comeback.

Matt Campbell returned to the European Tour with a 170 checkout of his own before defeating Cameron Menzies in a thrilling deciding-leg match after surviving six match darts.

Ryan Searle began his challenge by defeating Darryl Pilgrim 6-2, while Ricardo Pietreczko also defeated Matthew Dennant after surviving five match darts.

De Decker survives a huge scare on home soil to set up Humphries rematch as the Euro Tour returns 

 

First Round

Afternoon Session

Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Cedric Waegemans

Matt Campbell 6-5 Cameron Menzies

Gian van Veen 6-4 James Hurrell

Ritchie Edhouse 6-4 Owen Bates

Ricardo Pietreczko 6-5 Matthew Dennant

Wessel Nijman 6-5 Francois Schweyen

Daryl Gurney 6-1 Thibault Tricole

Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Darius Labanauskas

 

Evening Session

Ross Smith 6-5 Sybren Gijbels

Ryan Searle 6-2 Darryl Pilgrim

Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Patrick De Backer

Boris Krcmar 6-3 Josh Rock

Michael Smith 6-5 Ryan Joyce

Raymond van Barneveld 6-4 Cam Crabtree

Mike De Decker 6-5 Thomas Lovely

Martin Schindler 6-3 Jim Long

Saturday March 8

Second Round

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 GMT)

Danny Noppert v Daryl Gurney

Gary Anderson v Luke Woodhouse

Dave Chisnall v Ricardo Pietreczko

Jonny Clayton v Wessel Nijman

Rob Cross v Ross Smith

Damon Heta v Michael Smith

Stephen Bunting v Jermaine Wattimena

Nathan Aspinall v Ritchie Edhouse

 

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 GMT)

James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld

Peter Wright v Matt Campbell

Gerwyn Price v Gian van Veen

Dimitri Van den Bergh v Martin Schindler

Luke Humphries v Mike De Decker

Luke Littler v Ryan Searle

Michael van Gerwen v Boris Krcmar

Chris Dobey v Dirk van Duijvenbode