Gerwyn Price’s love affair with the International Open continued on Saturday night as he booked his place in the last 16 after a 6-4 win over Brendan Dolan in Riesa. The Iceman who is looking for a third successive International Open title and fifth in 7 years. The Welshman who has struggled with his doubling in recent weeks will be relieved to get through with 50% on his doubles and over a 96 average even though Dolan led the way on 180’s and 140’s..

Price will be joined in the last 16 by current World Champion and World number 1 Luke Humphries. Humphries who uncharacteristically lost at the Quarter-Final stage of Thursday night’s Premier League was back to winning ways in a commanding 6-2 win over Jose de Sousa. The Special One was unable to keep up with Cool Hand Luke’s scoring who registered 6 maximums, missed 11 darts at the double and still had just shy of a 100 average.

Heta and Bunting ease through

In the first match of the second round Damon Heta reeled five legs off on the bounce to ease past Callan Rydz. The Heat who was not at his best in averaging 90 won 6-1 taking advantage of a poor performance from Rydz  who himself had a big win on Friday. Stephen Bunting beat German Michael Unterbuchner by the same score line with the Bullet averaging over 101 and winning 6 legs on the bounce after losing the first leg. The Englishman finished with over 54% on his doubles.

The biggest performance of the afternoon came from Nathan Aspinall who averaged an impressive 113 in defeating Jonny Clayton 6-2. The Asp hit 3 maximums and hit 60% of his doubles. Ritchie Edhouse continued his fine form this week in a roller coaster match against Michael Smith. After letting a 2-0 slip, Madhouse had to recover from 5-3 down to win in a last leg decider taking out 160 to win with Bullyboy sat on 64. Top seed Dave Chisnall fell at the first hurdle losing 6-2 to Richard Veenstra. With the game evenly poised at 2 apiece – it was Flyers that took the initiative reeling off four straight legs. The Dutchman’s finishing was the difference pinning 6 out of 8 on the double.

In the evenings first it was the German crowd who were left cheering as Ricardo Pietreczko beat James Wade 6-5. Despite losing his throw in the 9th leg he broke immediately back to take it to a decider. In the all important leg Pikachu missed the bull for a 164 finish before returning to the oche to clean up the 25 for a 14 dart leg. There was double delight for the German crowd as Martin Schindler comfortably beat Joe Cullen by 6 legs to 3. Despite the Rockstar taking out 103 he was no match for the wall who averaged 105 and hit 6 maximums. There was a third reason for the home crowd to be cheerful on Saturday night as Gabriel Clemens joined his countrymen in Sunday afternoon’s last 16 despite a mini fight back by Dirk van Duijvenbode. Despite cruising into a 5-1 lead the German Giant had to bide his time to get over the line eventually holding in the tenth leg to win 6-4.

Elsewhere in the afternnon Ross Smith recovered from 5-2 down against William O’Connor to win 6-5. Both players struggled on the outer ring with Smith missing 13 darts at a double and O’Connor missing 16 darts at the double. Ryan Searle beat Daryl Gurney in a last leg decider with nothing to separate the players in the averages or the 180’s and despite leading 5-4 Gurney failed to hold his own throw in the deciding leg.

Another match that went the distance was Cameron Menzies’s clash with Northern Irish darter Josh Rock and it was Menzies who won 6-5 thanks to a hold in the deciding leg after watching Rock miss 2 match darts of his own in leg 11. With a 92 average the Scotsman will be hoping his run can continue as he faces Ross Smith on Sunday.

In the other afternoon matches Danny Noppert and Chris Dobey won by 6 legs to four against Dimitri Van den Bergh and Krzysztof Ratajski respectively. Noppert hit 6 maximums and a 100 average whilst Hollywood continued his rich vein of form averaging 111 as both players look forward to the last 16 on Sunday.

In the last match of the night Rob Cross had to fight off a spirited Gian van Veen to keep his hopes of winning the tournament. He eventually hit the winning double at the fifth attempt to win 6-5 after earlier been trailing 2-0 and 3-2. The Englishman will face his fellow countryman Ritchie Edhouse on Sunday.

The action gets underway on the third and final day at 12:00 GMT in Riesa.

Round 2 results

Ross Smith 6|5 William O’Connor
Damon Heta 6|1 Callan Rydz
Ryan Searle 6|5 Darryl Gurney
Chris Dobey 6|4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Danny Noppert 6|4 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Stephen Bunting 6|1 Michael Unterbuchner
Nathan Aspinall 6|2 Jonny Clayton
Ritchie Edhouse 6|5 Michael Smith
Ricardo Pietreczko 6|5 James Wade
Richard Veenstra 6|2 David Chisnall
Martin Schindler 6|3 Joe Cullen
Gerwyn Price 6|4 Brendan Dolan
Cameron Menzies 6|5 Josh Rock
Luke Humphries 6|2 Jose de Sousa
Gabriel Clemens 6|4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Rob Cross 6|5 Gian van Veen