The race to qualify for the European Championship continues to be close after day one of the Euro Tour event in Sindelfingen.

The winner of the last event Devon Petersen swept aside Harry Ward 6-1 to set up another showdown with Gerwyn Price. Petersen beat Price 6-5 in the second round en route to the German Darts Championship three weeks ago.

Elsewhere, Mervyn King beat Lithuania’s Mindaugas Barauskas 6-5. King will face Michael van Gerwen in round two tomorrow, and beat him 6-1 in round three on the last Euro Tour event.

Dayay one of the Euro Tour event in Sindelfingen also saw:

  • Four Germans make the the second round
  • Derk Telnekes, Darius Labanauskas and Martijn Kleermaker all recording wins
  • David Evans marking his return to the Pro Tour last week with a Euro Tour victory
Devon Petersen will be looking for a second straight Euro Tour title after coming through round one of the event in Sindelfingen. Credit: Tobias Wenzel/PDC Europe

Petersen breezes through but King made to work

Devon Petersen brushed off his defeat to Michael van Gerwen at the BoyleSports World Grand Prix last week. He easily beat Harry Ward 6-1 in round one of the European Darts Grand Prix.

Both players held throw in the opening two legs, before The African Warrior took over the contest. After holding throw for 2-1, he found double 16 to find a break and go 3-1 ahead. This seemed to fire up Petersen, who reeled off the next two legs in 27 darts to take a 5-1 lead. The final leg saw both players multiple darts at a double, and Big H bust his score. However, Petersen eventually found double 10 to beat an out of sorts Ward 6-1.

By contrast, The King had a much more difficult afternoon against Barauskas. The man who will partner Darius Labanauskas in the BetVictor World Cup of Darts this year got off to a brilliant start, He broke in the first leg, before six straight holds of throw saw him lead 4-2.

The King though would bounce back. After holding throw for 4-3, he then found the break back with a lovely 72 outshot to get it back to 4-4.  Two holds of throw followed, despite King missing three for the match in the tenth leg. He would put it behind it him though, finding a lovely 101 checkout on double 16 to come through 6-5.

Mervyn King set up a second round clash with Michael van Gerwen at the European Darts Grand Prix. Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC

Mixed fortunes for Germans

A number of withdrawals saw more German players getting a chance to participate in the European Darts Grand Prix. Some took their opportunity, some did not.

Both the German number one and two came through. Max Hopp defeated Pero Ljubic 6-4 to move into round two, while Gabriel Clemens beat fellow countryman Steffen Siepmann 6-3. He recorded a 103.9 average, the highest of the day, to set up a second round clash v James Wade.

Elsewhere, rising star Nico Kurz beat Associate Member Qualifier Stefan Bellmont, coming back from 4-1 down to win a last leg decider 6-5. The other German to make it through today was Ricardo Pietreczko, who beat Luke Woodhouse 6-1 in the afternoon session.

Not all the players from the host nation qualified for round two. Day one of the Euro Tour event saw:

  • Michael Unterbuchner lose 6-4 to Darius Labanauskas
  • Robert Marijanovic be beaten 6-3 by Derk Telnekes
  • Debutant Markus Buffler lose 6-3 to Martijn Kleermaker
  • Kai Gotthardt fall 6-3 to David Evans. It capped off a memorable week for Evans, who won his Pro Tour last week on the Challenge Tour, and came through the Associate Members Qualifier yesterday.

What else happened?

Adam Hunt produced a 101 average in a 6-1 victory over Damon Heta. Sadly, his stable mate Chris Dobey could not make it through to round two. He lost 6-3 to William O’Connor, and his European Championship hopes hang in the balance after failing to qualify for Euro Tour Four next weekend.

Scott Waites had to come through a last leg decider against Jason Lowe, despite looking control for the early part of the contest. Former Euro Tour finalist John Henderson was beaten in round one, losing 6-2 to the Hurricane, Kim Huybrechts.

Steve Lennon comfortably beat Madars Razma 6-3, while Maik Kuivenhoven started off the whole day with a straightforward 6-4 victory over Jonathan Worsley.

 

Day One Results

First Round

Maik Kuivenhoven 6-4 Jonathan Worsley

Mervyn King 6-5 Mindaugas Barauskas

Ricardo Pietreczko 6-1 Luke Woodhouse

David Evans 6-3 Kai Gotthardt

Scott Waites 6-5 Jason Lowe

Nico Kurz 6-5 Stefan Bellmont

Darius Labanauskas 6-4 Michael Unterbuchner

Devon Petersen 6-1 Harry Ward

Kim Huybrechts 6-2 John Henderson

Max Hopp 6-4 Pero Ljubic

Derk Telnekes 6-3 Robert Marijanovic

Steve Lennon 6-3 Madars Razma

Martijn Kleermaker 6-3 Markus Buffler

Adam Hunt 6-1 Damon Heta

Gabriel Clemens 6-3 Steffen Siepmann

William O’Connor 6-3 Chris Dobey

Day Two Schedule of Play

Second Round

Afternoon Session (13.00 local time, 12.00 BST)

Daryl Gurney v Maik Kuivenhoven

Ian White v Scott Waites

Michael Smith v Derk Telnekes

Glen Durrant v Nico Kurz

Jose De Sousa v Ricardo Pietreczko

Dave Chisnall v Darius Labanauskas

Joe Cullen v Kim Huybrechts

Jamie Hughes v Steve Lennon

Evening Session (19.00 local time, 18.00 BST)

Krzysztof Ratajski v Martijn Kleermaker

Rob Cross v Adam Hunt

James Wade v Gabriel Clemens

Gerwyn Price v Devon Petersen

Mensur Suljovic v David Evans

Michael van Gerwen v Mervyn King

Nathan Aspinall v William O’Connor

Vincent van der Voort v Max Hopp