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:
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.
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:
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.
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
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
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
Luke Littler confirmed his place in the play-offs after recording his fourth nightly win of…
Welcome to the BETMGM Premier League Night 14 recommended bets. Here we bring our recommended…
Gerwyn Price will not compete in night 14 of the 2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts.…
Littler Adds a Second Euro Title Winning the 2024 Austrian Darts Open Premier league leader…
Daniel Klose took full advantage of his late call up with both hands as he…
Danny Lauby, Ritchie Edhouse and Luke Littler were amongst the winners on a busy first…