Woodhouse steals the show on day 1 of the European Darts Open

Following a spectacular start to the PDC European Tour event in Leverkusen, Luke Woodhouse has set his sights on a showdown with Gerwyn Price in the Interwetten European Darts Open.

In the standout performance of Friday’s first round at the Ostermann Arena, Englishman Woodhouse set his highest recorded average of 109.98 in a superb 6-0 whitewash of Mickey Mansell.

In a strong performance, Woodhouse finished six doubles out of seven attempts, limiting Mansell to just two doubles as he advanced to a second round tie with top seed Price on Saturday.

 

“I felt really good,” said Woodhouse. “Practice didn’t go so well, but I felt really comfortable up on the stage and the crowd was amazing – it went really well.

“Obviously Gezzy is an unbelievable player so I’m going to have to perform like that tomorrow then you never know. I’ve got all the respect in the world for Gezzy so we’ll see what happens.”

A 100 average  from Darren Penhall whitewashed Luc Peters setting up a meeting with recent German Darts Grand Prix winner Luke Humphries, 

Josh Rock defeated fellow youngster Connor Scutt 6-0 in the afternoon session, and the emerging Northern Irish ace now faces Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski on Saturday.

Runner-up in the German Darts Grand Prix Martin Lukeman’s aspirations of a strong run on the European Tour were dashed with a 6-3 loss to Dennis Nilsson, who will face Jose de Sousa in the second round.

Daryl Gurney won the deciding leg of his tie with fellow Northern Irishman Kevin Burness, advancing to the second round to face Michael van Gerwen.

On Saturday, Scott Williams will face World Champion Peter Wright, who came back from a 5-4 deficit to overcome Czech Republic’s Adam Gawlas 6-5.

Martin Schindler of Germany stunned the Leverkusen crowd with a 6-2 victory over Ritchie Edhouse, hitting six doubles in 11 attempts, and will now face European Champion Rob Cross.

With a 6-3 loss to Dave Chisnall, top-ranked German Gabriel Clemens was ousted, setting up a tense second-round match with Damon Heta.

Rowby-John Rodriguez upset young German Nico Kurz 6-4 on Saturday night, tying the Austrian with Cazoo Premier League leader Jonny Clayton.

Berry van Peer came back from a 4-2 deficit to upset Jermaine Wattimena 6-4, punishing his fellow Dutchman with 21 missed doubles to advance to the last 32, where he will face Premier League standout James Wade.

Cameron Menzies overcame Ian White 6-3 in their tie, securing a second round match against Dimitri Van den Bergh with a 156 checkout.

Devon Petersen rallied from a 5-4 deficit to defeat Kevin Doets in a decisive leg, putting the South African in a second-round match against former housemate Joe Cullen, the 2022 Masters champion.

Krzysztof Kciuk punished Keane Barry with 13 missed doubles in a 6-3 victory that earned him a second round match against Ryan Searle, with a 133 finish.

In the deciding leg of their match, Maik Kuivenhoven escaped four missed match darts from Stephen Bunting to set up an all-Dutch final with Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Andrew Gilding came back from a 2-0 deficit to overcome Lukas Wenig 6-3 and advance to a tie with Brendan Dolan, stringing together five legs of between 12 and 15 darts.

Following the withdrawal of America’s Danny Baggish, Karel Sedlacek will face Nathan Aspinall in round two after receiving a bye.

2022 Interwetten European Darts Open

Friday May 6

First Round

Afternoon Session 

Luke Woodhouse 6-0 Mickey Mansell

Darren Penhall 6-0 Luc Peters

Dennis Nilsson 6-3 Martin Lukeman

Josh Rock 6-0 Connor Scutt

Scott Williams 6-5 Adam Gawlas

Krzysztof Kciuk 6-3 Keane Barry

Andrew Gilding 6-3 Lukas Wenig

 

Evening Session 

Devon Petersen 6-5 Kevin Doets

Maik Kuivenhoven 6-5 Stephen Bunting

Daryl Gurney 6-5 Kevin Burness

Berry van Peer 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena

Cameron Menzies 6-3 Ian White

Martin Schindler 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse

Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-4 Nico Kurz

Dave Chisnall 6-3 Gabriel Clemens

NB: Karel Sedlacek receives Bye

 

Saturday May 7

Second Round

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)

Krzysztof Ratajski v Josh Rock

Jose de Sousa v Dennis Nilsson

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Maik Kuivenhoven

Brendan Dolan v Andrew Gilding

Ryan Searle v Krzysztof Kciuk

Dimitri Van den Bergh v Cameron Menzies

James Wade v Berry van Peer

Joe Cullen v Devon Petersen

 

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)

Luke Humphries v Darren Penhall

Nathan Aspinall v Karel Sedlacek

Gerwyn Price v Luke Woodhouse

Michael van Gerwen v Daryl Gurney

Peter Wright v Scott Williams

Jonny Clayton v Rowby-John Rodriguez

Rob Cross v Martin Schindler

Damon Heta v Dave Chisnall