Danny Lauby, Ritchie Edhouse and Luke Littler were amongst the winners on a busy first day at the Neo.bet Austrian Darts Open.

It was a dream European Tour debut for Danny Lauby as he defeated Ryan Joyce 6-4. In a match with 5 breaks of throw, Ryan Joyce was unable to force a last leg decider missing 3 darts at double 18 to then face the agony of watching the American hit that exact double with his first match dart to progress into the second round.

In what is fast blossoming into a wonderful relationship between the European Tour and Ritchie Edhouse, Madhouse once again continued his fine form on the continent with a 6-4 victory over Aaron Monk. Despite only hitting 33% his scoring and especially the 5 maximums he hit helped him get over the line.

Dimitri Van den Bergh booked his place in the second round of the Austrian Darts Open after taking out 152 in the deciding leg against Gabriel Clemens. With the German Giant waiting on 57 the Belgian number 1 took full advantage to send the Austrian crowd wild with a big finish. His reward for beating Clemens is a second round tie with Josh Rock.

Tough day for the home players at the Austrian Darts Open

Unfortunately there wasn’t much for the home crowd to cheer. Hannes Schnier was the first of the host nation qualifiers to grace the stage and despite averaging over 93 came up against a spirited Brendan Dolan who had too much for Schnier with The History Maker himself averaging 98 and coming out with a 6-3 victory.

Next up was Christian Goedl in the last match of the afternoon against Dom Taylor and the Tower showed his credentials with a very impressive 6-0 win. The Bristolian averaged over a ton and will now face Krzysztof Ratajski in Saturday’s second round.

It wouldn’t get any better for the host nation qualifiers in the evening as in the very first match Andrew Gilding comfortably got past Dominik Haberl 6-2. Despite only averaging 81 Goldfinger found himself 5-1 up but will need to improve if he has aspirations of going deep into the tournament.

Then in the final game of the night Luke Littler picked up from his Premier League victory in Liverpool as he defeated local hero Zoran Lerchbacher by 6-2. Whilst the Nuke was far from his best only averaging 91.61 and hitting two maximums he had more than enough to get past the Austrian and make it into the second round.

Afternoon round-up

Elsewhere in the afternoon the Dutch were all smiles at the Austrian Darts Open after all 3 of their players registered wins. In the afternoon’s first match Wessel Nijman held his nerve to overcome Romeo Grbavac in a last leg shootout. With his opponent waiting on 20 Nijman hit the double with his last dart to secure victory. Then in the very next match Jeffrey de Zwaan followed in his compatriots footsteps in defeating Karel Sedlacek. Despite finding himself 2-0 down the Black Cobra reeled off 4 straight legs to take control of the match eventually winning 6-3 with an average just under a ton.

The third Dutch darter to book his place in the second round was Richard Veenstra coming through a rollercoaster battle against Rapid Ricky Evans. In a close battle that went all the way to the last it was Veenstra who took out 104 to seal the victory having hit another two ton plus outshots earlier in the match. Both players scored heavily exchanging 9 maximums and 23 140’s between them.

And the other afternoon match saw a Nordic & Baltic battle between 2 experienced campaigners in Madras Razma and Darius Labanauskas and it was the latter who got the better of his Latvian opponent with Labanauskas winning 6-4. Unfortunately it’ll be remembered for the missed doubles with both players missing the outer segments 33 times between them.

Evening round-up

Martin Schindler continued his recent rich vein of form has he defeated James Wade. Germany’s number 1 still riding high after recently being crowned the International Dart Open champion. The Wall averaged 111.37 in a 6-4 victory.

Elsewhere another young darter to produce impressive figures was Chris Dobey. Hollywood lived up to his nickname by posting over a 106 average, hit 4 maximums and over 54% on his doubles as he defeated fellow Englishman Graham Hall 6-2. In the first match of the evening Daryl Gurney proved to have too much for the Martin Lukeman as the Northern Irishman came through with a 6-3 victory. Despite being pegged back from 3-1 to 3-3 Superchin proved to have too much for his opponent reeling off 3 straight legs to book his place in the second round.

And the Dutch darting fans were still full of smiles by the end of the first day as they got a clean sweep of victories in the first round even if they were in complete contrast to each other. Raymond van Barneveld got pushed all the way by Mike De Decker. Barney taking out 136 in the 9th leg to lead 5-4 only to lose his throw in the very next leg before breaking again in the decider taking out 96 to keep his hopes alive of winning the Austrian Darts Open. In opposite fashion Gian van Veen wasted no time whatsoever in getting past Portugal’s number 1 Jose de Sousa by a scoreline of 6-1. An under par Special one averaged less than 75 and despite the young Dutch star missing 12 darts at a double he still had plenty in the tank to get over the line with ease.

Neo.Bet Austrian Darts Open results

Round 1
Wesley Nijman 6|5 Romeo Grbavac
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6|3 Karel Sedlacek
Danny Lauby 6|4 Ryan Joyce
Brendan Dolan 6|3 Hannes Schnier
Richard Veenstra 6|5 Ricky Evans
Darius Labanauskas 6|4 Madras Razma
Ritchie Edhouse 6|4 Aaron Monk
Dom Taylor 6|0 Christian Goedl
Daryl Gurney 6|3 Martin Lukeman
Andrew Gilding 6|2 Dominik Haberl
Gian van Veen 6|1 Jose de Sousa
Chris Dobey 6|2 Graham Hall
Martin Schindler 6|4 James Wade
Raymond van Barneveld 6|5 Mike De Decker
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6|5 Gabriel Clemens
Luke Littler 6|2 Zoran Lerchbacher