German Darts Champs: Gurney and VVV amongst early winners

Red Dragon Darts

Former European Tour event winners Dave Chisnall, Kim Huybrechts, Daryl Gurney and Vincent van der Voort were amongst the first round winners as the Interwetten German Darts Championship began on Friday.

The £140,000 event at Halle 39 in Hildesheim will see 45 players competing across the weekend, with the first round featuring the tournament’s qualifiers facing off.

Chisnall impressed with a 99 average in his 6-1 win over Stefan Bellmont, as the two-time European Tour winner progressed to face Germany’s Gabriel Clemens in Saturday’s second round.

Belgium’s Huybrechts produced a finishing master-class as he hit six doubles from as many attempts in a 6-3 win over Joe Murnan to progress to a tasty tie with Jose de Sousa.

“I’ve been ill this week, my daughter had a virus and I was not sure if I could make the game, so when I did and won I’m very happy,” said Huybrechts.

“The confidence is back. I used to lose so many games when I was feeling good, and now when I’m feeling bad I win games, so it’s coming back.”

Gurney held off a strong challenge from home hope Lukas Wenig to claim a 6-4 win, setting up a round two meeting with Luke Humphries.

Van der Voort took out 156 during his 6-2 defeat of youngster Gian van Veen in their all-Dutch tie to create a second round meeting with Ryan Searle.

There was disappointment, though, for two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis as he went down 6-2 to Czech qualifier Karel Sedlacek, who finished 118 and 112 in moving through to meet Chris Dobey.

Germany’s Martin Schindler survived a missed match dart from Jermaine Wattimena before taking victory in the deciding leg of their entertaining first round tie.

Wattimena had landed an early ten-darter but found himself 4-1 down before levelling, while Schindler then took out a showpiece 132 finish of bull-bull-double 16 to move 5-4 up before closing out a 6-5 win.

Schindler now takes on World Champion Peter Wright in round two, with the Scot bidding to win a seventh European Tour title.

Spain’s Jose Justicia will meet back-to-back Cazoo Premier League night winner Michael van Gerwen in round two following a 6-4 defeat of George Killington in their Friday battle.

Ricky Evans will play Masters champion Joe Cullen in round two after enjoying a 6-3 win over Nathan Rafferty on Friday afternoon, finishing 50 percent of his darts at a double in a clinical display.

Darius Labanauskas defeated German qualifier Niko Springer 6-2 and now plays Dirk van Duijvenbode, while Martin Lukeman defeated Jimmy Hendriks by the same scoreline to set up a meeting with Damon Heta.

Martijn Kleermaker will play European Champion Rob Cross in round two following his 6-4 defeat of Belgium’s Mario Vandenbogaerde, as he finished 102, 96 and 79 to come from 4-3 down and claim victory.

Scotland’s Alan Soutar landed six doubles from 11 attempts in a 6-3 win over Luc Peters, and he now plays former World Matchplay winner Dimitri Van den Bergh.

Scott Waites will meet reigning Premier League, World Grand Prix and World Series of Darts Finals winner Jonny Clayton on Saturday after proving too strong for Finland’s Marko Kantele in a 6-3 success.

Reigning German Darts Championship winner Devon Petersen faces UK Open finalist Michael Smith in round two, while Jamie Hughes

takes on former Gibraltar Darts Trophy winner Krzysztof Ratajski.

Coverage will be streamed through DAZN for viewers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and through PDCTV for subscribers in all other territories, as well as through bookmakers worldwide.

Interwetten German Darts Championship

Friday March 11

First Round

Afternoon Session

Scott Waites 6-3 Marko Kantele

Alan Soutar 6-3 Luc Peters

Martin Lukeman 6-2 Jimmy Hendriks

Martijn Kleermaker 6-4 Mario Vandenbogaerde

Darius Labanauskas 6-2 Niko Springer

Ricky Evans 6-3 Nathan Rafferty

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 GMT)

Jose Justicia 6-4 George Killington

Martin Schindler 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena

Dave Chisnall 6-1 Stefan Bellmont

Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Gian van Veen

Daryl Gurney 6-4 Lukas Wenig

Kim Huybrechts 6-3 Joe Murnan

Karel Sedlacek 6-2 Adrian Lewis

Saturday March 12

Second Round

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 GMT)

Krzysztof Ratajski v Jamie Hughes

Rob Cross v Martijn Kleermaker

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Darius Labanauskas

Damon Heta v Martin Lukeman

Ryan Searle v Vincent Van der Voort

Dimitri Van den Bergh v Alan Soutar

Luke Humphries v Daryl Gurney

Joe Cullen v Ricky Evans

Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 GMT)

Jose de Sousa v Kim Huybrechts

Michael Smith v Devon Petersen

Gabriel Clemens v Dave Chisnall

Michael van Gerwen v Jose Justicia

Peter Wright v Martin Schindler

Jonny Clayton v Scott Waites

Callan Rydz v Mensur Suljovic

Chris Dobey v Karel Sedlacek

Format: Best of 11 legs

—–ENDS—–

Images: Kais Bodensieck/PDC Europe




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