James Wade, Jermaine Wattimena and Ritchie Edhouse were the big winners on the first day in Kiel for the 2024 Baltic Sea Open.

Another European Tour and another win for Ritchie Edhouse. This time against world No.4 Nathan Aspinall with a staggering 106 average – the highest of the first round. Once Madhouse got his nose in front he never looked back going ahead 4-1 before eventually getting over the line 6-2. Edhouse is certainly making the most of his adventures into Europe this season.

James Wade produced a typical James Wade performance in the final match of the afternoon session, dispatching Niels Zonneveld. Averaging just shy of a 100 the Machine stormed into a 4-0 lead which included a 155 checkout before seeing his lead halved to 4-2 by the Dutch star. Wade eventually recomposing himself to win 6-2.

The best performance of the afternoon came from Jermaine Wattimena as he breezed past Brendan Dolan. The Machine Gun wasted no time in going up 2-0 and despite Dolan halving the lead the Dutch star took complete control reeling off 4 straight legs to win 6-1 with a 101 average and a highest checkout of 104.

 

Premier League hangover for stars in Germany

It wasn’t only Nathan Aspinall who suffered defeat on the opening night after playing in the Premier League in Leeds on Thursday. In an uncharacteristic performance of his standards which saw him average under 84 Luke Littler was defeated 6-3 by Wessel Nijman. With the game evenly poised at 3-3 it was the Dutch star who took advantage of Littler not being at the races to reel off 3 straight legs. Whilst there is no need for alarm bells his early defeat in the Baltic Sea Open comes a day after his heaviest defeat in his Premier League campaign having lost 6-1 to Michael van Gerwen in the semi final who now awaits Nijman in the second round.

Mixed results for the home nation players

Wins for the host nation qualifier have been hard to come by so far this season on the European Tour but that trend was somewhat broken today. Franz Roetzsch was the first German player to make it through to the second round bouncing back from 4-2 down against Haupai Puha the home favourite reeling off 4 straight legs to win 6-4 having hit 3 maximums.

It was double delight for the home crowd as in the very next game Moritz Hilger comfortably beat Matthew Dennant 6-2. Despite both players only averaging 79 Dennant will be left kicking himself having missed darts at a double in every single leg – much to the delight of the German. His reward for winning his opening tie is a second round clash with fellow German Ricardo Pietreczko.

Unfortunately – that’s where the celebrating ended for the home crowd as none of the German players won their opening matches in the evening session. First up was the last of the home nation qualifiers in Kevin Troppmann who faced Gian van Veen and despite the young German fighting back from 4-1 down to make it 4-4 it was the young Dutch star who held it together taking out 121 in the 9th leg before getting over the line 6-4.

The next German star to fall was Gabriel Clemens with the German Giant losing 6-5 to Andy Baetens. Despite Clemens leading 2-0 it was the Belgian darter who took control to lead 5-3 and despite Clemens forcing a last leg decider he offered nothing in the last leg with Baetens taking out 60 to book his place in the next round.

The penultimate match of the evening so recently crowned International Darts Open champion Martin Schindler face off against Mike De Decker and it was the Belgian darter who got over the line 6-3. In another game that was evenly poised at 3-3 De Decker was the one to take advantage and keep his hopes alive of taking home the title. Missed doubles played it’s part for both with De Decker averaging over 96.

Afternoon round-up

Whilst the standard of many of the matches didn’t live up to much in terms of averages there was plenty of excitement throughout the afternoon. In a yoyo first match of the afternoon Sebastian Bialecki fought back from 3-1 down against Jose de Sousa to lead 5-3 only for Portugal’s number 1 fight back and force a last leg decider with the young Polish darter booking his place in the next round.

Elsewhere in the Baltic Sea Open Christopher Toonders was the first host nation qualifier on the stage but it was a debut to forger for the young German as Maik Kuivenhoven dispatched him 6-0 with a 92 average and 50% on the doubles. Another big winner of the afternoon was Andrew Gilding who defeated Thibault Tricole 6-1. Despite Goldfinger only averaging 84.24 he had more than enough to ease past the French darter who missed 8 costly darts at the double. Andrew Gilding’s reward is a second round tie with Peter Wright.

Another game that went the distance was the penultimate match of the afternoon with Luke Woodhouse just getting the better of Ryan Joyce. With only half a point between them in the averages and Woodhouse finding himself 4-2 down he managed to fight back and secure a second round tie with Ross Smith.

 

Evening round-up

In the first match of the evening Chris Dobey almost completed the perfect comeback against Madras Razma. Hollywood was trailing 5-1 before the comeback begun to force a last leg decider. Razma who missed a dart at the bull for a big fish checkout and the match will have been relieved to eventually get over the line with an 86 average.

Elsewhere Raymond van Barneveld showed his intent for a weekend with a commanding 6-1 with over Daniel Larsson. Both players struggled on the double with Larsson missing 6 darts at the outer ring. Meanwhile Barney hit 4 180’s and averaged over 99.

Another tasty match up so Darryl Gurney face Dimitri Van den Bergh. Both players will be hoping to climb up the rankings as we head into the second half of the year and on this occasion it was Superchin who got the win. Van den Bergh will look back at 14 missed doubles as the reason for his defeat and Gurney will be relieved to get through having only averaged 88 himself.

Round 1 Results

Afternoon Session

Sebastian Bialecki 6|5 Jose de Sousa

Maik Kuivenhoven 6|0 Christopher Toonders

Andrew Gilding 6|1 Thibault Tricole

Franz Roetzsch 6|4 Haupai Puha

Moritz Hilger 6|2 Matthew Dennant

Jermaine Wattimena 6|1 Brendan Dolan

Luke Woodhouse 6|5 Ryan Joyce

James Wade 6|2 Niels Zonneveld

Evening Session

Madars Razma 6|5 Chris Dobey

Gian van Veen 6|4 Kevin Troppmann

Daryl Gurney 6|3 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Raymond van Barneveld 6|1 Daniel Larsson

Andy Baetens 6|5 Gabriel Clemens

Ritchie Edhouse 6|2 Nathan Aspinall

Mike De Decker 6|3 Martin Schindler

Wessel Nijman 6|3 Luke Littler