Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton were among multiple top seeds who fell at the first hurdle in Prague on Saturday, as the Gambrinus Czech Darts Open continued.
Jose Justicia enjoyed his biggest success on the European Tour as he took the scalp of Premier League champion Clayton, with a deciding leg victory.
The 33-year-old was ranked 102nd before the £140,000 tournament began on Friday at Hala Kralovka.
The tie looked to be a close encounter in the early exchanges, with the pair locked at three legs apiece, but back-to-back legs for the Spaniard saw him go within a leg of the match.
Current Premier League leader Clayton then provided a spirited comeback, taking the tie to a deciding leg, but Justicia held his nerve to secure one of the biggest wins of his career.
Justicia will now face Jose de Sousa in his first-ever European Tour third-round appearance, with the Portuguese ace showing signs of a return to form, claiming a comfortable 6-2 victory over Martijn Kleermaker.
Adrian Lewis came out on top in a feisty affair with number one seed Gerwyn Price, coming through with a 6-3 success.
The two-time World Champion hit eight perfect darts in the seventh leg, narrowly missing double 12 for a nine-darter.
Lewis faces a tough test in the third round against Vincent van der Voort who overcame Germany’s Martin Schindler in a deciding leg.
Joe Cullen joined the list of seeded stars who failed to reach Finals Day, losing 6-4 to Ross Smith.
Michael van Gerwen kept his hopes of a remarkable 36th European Tour title alive after defeating Czech qualifier Vitezslav Sedlak 6-2.
The most recent winner on the European Tour raced into 5-0 lead, before requiring 12 match darts to eventually get over the line.
Czech hopes on the final day will rest on Adam Gawlas, who delighted his home crowd with a 6-4 victory over Damon Heta.
Gawlas will now take on Ryan Searle who didn’t allow Ritchie Edhouse a dart at double in their match, closing out a sensational whitewash success with a 107 average.
Elsewhere, Rowby-John Rodriguez is through to the last 16 of a European Tour event for the first time in three years, brilliantly defeating Premier League star Michael Smith 6-4.
The World Cup finalist will now take on Dirk van Duijvenbode, who clinched a 6-3 success over Karel Sedlacek.
Dave Chisnall battled back from 4-2 down to defeat Daryl Gurney 6-5 in a thrilling second round tie which saw the St. Helens star survive a match dart.
Another mouth-watering third-round fixture sees Luke Humphries meet former World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh.
A repeat of April’s German Darts Grand Prix final saw Humphries once again comfortably come out on top over an emerging Martin Lukeman.
Belgian ace Van den Bergh racked up an eighth consecutive victory over Nathan Aspinall, closing out a hard-fought 6-4 success to set up a clash with the 2022 UK Open runner-up.
Ricky Evans was the first player to seal a third-round spot with an impressive whitewash over Krzysztof Ratajski, averaging 103.66 in the process.
Evans now faces European Champion Rob Cross, who piled in three ton-plus checkouts to seal an impressive 6-2 victory over Jules van Dongen.
The tournament concludes on Sunday, with the afternoon session’s third round followed in the evening session by the decisive quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
The tournament is being broadcast live on PDCTV, exclusively on DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and through bookmakers’ websites worldwide.
Saturday May 14
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Ricky Evans 6-0 Krzysztof Ratajski
Mickey Mansell 6-5 Brendan Dolan
Luke Humphries 6-1 Martin Lukeman
Rob Cross 6-2 Jules van Dongen
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Jose de Sousa 6-2 Martijn Kleermaker
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-4 Michael Smith
Evening Session
Adam Gawlas 6-4 Damon Heta
Vincent van der Voort 6-5 Martin Schindler
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Jose Justicia 6-5 Jonny Clayton
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Vitezslav Sedlak
Adrian Lewis 6-3 Gerwyn Price
Ross Smith 6-4 Joe Cullen
Ryan Searle 6-0 Ritchie Edhouse
Sunday May 15
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Rowby-John Rodriguez v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Jose de Sousa v Jose Justicia
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Luke Humphries
Michael van Gerwen v Mickey Mansell
Rob Cross v Ricky Evans
Ross Smith v Dave Chisnall
Adam Gawlas v Ryan Searle
Adrian Lewis v Vincent van der Voort
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC Europe
Darts World Magazine (Issue 578) and 2022 bundle offers
Subscribe or purchase your copy
