UK Open champion Danny Noppert made his way through to the second round of the PDC’s Austrian Darts Open.
Mr Freeze came through a tough, all Dutch, affair beating Jermaine Wattimena in a last-leg decider to win 6-5 on the oche with a 93.27 average with a fantastic 104 finish in the final leg.
The UK Open champion is through to face Former World Matchplay champion Dimitri van den Bergh on Saturday in Austria.
Thibault Tricole a finalist at Lakeside earlier this month made his first Euro Tour appearance in facing Zoran Lerchbacher in the afternoon session. The French Touch fell short in a last leg decider as hometown favourite and former Austrian World Cup Star Lerchbacher hit a magnificent 167 checkout on the bullseye to seal his spot in Round 2 against Ryan Searle.
The Frenchman can be proud of his achievements in Austria, as he averaged 95.10 in the match and included four maximums to continue his rise in the darting world.
Patrick Gosnak was one of three hometown favorites through on the opening day of the in Graz in the Fourth Euro Tour of the year.
Austrian Gosnak won in the final match of the afternoon session, beating former finalist Ian White 6-4 including two maximums to delight the home faithful. A 27 checkout on double four with his last dart gave him the win to go through and face Krzysztof Ratajski in the second round in the opening match on Saturday.
Wesley Plaisier a Quarter Finalist in the Third Euro Tour Event in Munich made it through to the Second Round of the Austrian Darts Open after beating Canadian Matt Campbell 6-3 with a 96.12 average and two maximums. The Dutchman is through to face Nathan Aspinall in the Second Round with the Asp recently winning on the Pro Tour earlier this month.
Plaisier had a checkout rate of 50% in the game and hit his highest finish of the match in the fifth leg to take a 3-2 as he hit 80 to hold throw.
Devon Peterson crashed out to emerging talent Josh Rock from Northern Ireland who hit an average of 101 to send the South African out early in Austria winning 6-3. The youngster is enjoying a strong start to 2022 with a Quarter-Final appearance in the Pro Tour already under his belt so far. Rock hit three maximums on stage but did miss 17 darts at double in the match in an aspect of his game that needs a little improvement.
Cameron Menzies who reached the Semi-Finals at Lakeside also played on the opening day of the fourth Euro Tour and survived a late fightback from Steve Beaton to win 6-4 and go through to face Michael van Gerwen on Saturday.
The Scotsman averaged 93.28 in beating former world champion Beaton but knows he will have to improve that if he’s to beat Mighty Mike. Menzies has beaten van Gerwen before on the Pro Tour so knows what it takes to get the better of the Dutchman on the oche.
Rowby John Rodriguez was the third and final Austrian through on opening day winning the last match against Darius Labanauskas 6-3, with Little John through to face Dirk van Duijvenbode on Saturday.
Action continues Saturday with the Second-Round action kicking off in Graz with the likes of Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries in action.
Austrian Darts Open:
Round 1 Results
Danny Jansen 6-1 Radek Szaganski
Wesley Plaisier 6-3 Matt Campbell
Jim Williams 6-1 Berry van Peer
Josh Rock 6-3 Devon Peterson
Ricky Evans 6-4 Johan Engstrom
Madars Razma 6-0 Michael Rasztovits
Cameron Menzies 6-4 Steve Beaton
Patrick Gosnak 6-4 Ian White
Callan Rydz 6-0 Dietmar Burger
Zoran Lerchbacher 6-5 Thibault Tricole
Gabriel Clemens 6-1 Toni Martinez
Danny Noppert 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-5 Mensur Suljovic
Steven Bunting 6-5 Karel Sedlacek
Brett Claydon 6-5 Rainer Sturm
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-3 Darius Labanauskas
—–ENDS—–
Words: Harry Masterson
Images: PDC
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