Mike De Decker will renew his rivalry with Luke Humphries at the Lecot Belgian Darts Open on Saturday, after overcoming a major scare against Thomas Lovely in Wieze.
Day One of the year’s opening European Tour event saw De Decker take centre stage on home soil, and the Belgian delighted his partisan home crowd with a late salvo at the Oktoberhallen.
De Decker was facing the prospect of a shock exit after Lovely established a 5-4 lead, but after surviving two match darts in the penultimate leg, De Decker capitalised to complete the turnaround.
The 29-year-old will now take on world number one Humphries in round two, as the pair go head-to-head on the big stage in a repeat of October’s World Grand Prix showpiece.
“This crowd have been amazing for the last four years, and I’m so happy I could get through for them tonight,” reflected a relieved De Decker.
“I just wanted to play well. I was playing really well backstage, but I’m still trying to find confidence with my set-up.
“Tomorrow I might ask Luke if we can play double-in double-out, because then I know I can win!”
De Decker was the solitary Belgian to progress on home soil, despite two of the four Host Nation Qualifiers forcing big-name opponents to last-leg shoot-outs.
Wessel Nijman defied a valiant fightback from Francois Schweyen to prevail in a decider, before former European Champion Ross Smith defeated newcomer Sybren Gijbels by the same 6-5 scoreline.
Cedric Waegemans and Patrick De Backer were also beaten on their European Tour debuts, succumbing to Luke Woodhouse and Jermaine Wattimena respectively.
Daryl Gurney was Friday’s stand-out performer, averaging 106 and landing a brace of ton-plus finishes to dispatch Thibault Tricole 6-1 and set up a second round clash against Danny Noppert.
Michael Smith was among the other high-profile first round winners, converting a sensational 125 finish on the bull en route to a 6-5 success against a tenacious Ryan Joyce.
Croatia’s Boris Krcmar caused the upset of the day in Wieze, winning five straight legs from 3-1 adrift to account for UK Open semi-finalist Josh Rock, who averaged over 99 in defeat.
European Champion Ritchie Edhouse ran out a 6-4 winner against Owen Bates in a high-quality affair, and he will play a resurgent Nathan Aspinall for a place in the last 16.
German number one Martin Schindler turned on the style in the latter stages of his tie against Jim Long, rattling off five straight legs from 3-1 down and conjuring up a spectacular 170 finish to complete the comeback.
Dutch duo Dirk van Duijvenbode and Gian van Veen also celebrated comeback victories, overturning 4-1 deficits against Darius Labanauskas and James Hurrell respectively.
Van Duijvenbode reeled off five straight legs in 12, 13, 11, 12 and 16 darts to stun Labanauskas, while Van Veen produced a five-leg burst of his own to set up a showdown against Gerwyn Price.
Raymond van Barneveld joined his fellow countrymen in Saturday’s second round, battling past European Tour debutant Cam Crabtree to move through to a meeting with UK Open runner-up James Wade.
Matt Campbell marked his European Tour return with a 170 checkout of his own, before surviving six match darts to deny Cameron Menzies in a compelling deciding-leg tussle.
Ricardo Pietreczko also survived five match darts in his victory over Matthew Dennant, as Ryan Searle opened his challenge with a resounding 6-2 win against Darryl Pilgrim.
The 2025 Lecot Belgian Darts Open continues on Saturday, as the second round takes place across two sessions at the Oktoberhallen.
Reigning champion Luke Littler opens his title defence against Searle, Humphries and De Decker lock horns, while Belgian number one Dimitri Van den Bergh plays Schindler – a winner of two European Tour titles in 2024.
Live coverage from the Belgian Darts Open will be streamed on DAZN for viewers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and through the DAZN Darts channel on Pluto TV.
Coverage will also be shown on PDCTV (excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and through bookmakers’ worldwide.
Click here for match stats & results.
2025 Lecot Belgian Darts Open
Friday March 7
First Round
Afternoon Session
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Cedric Waegemans
Matt Campbell 6-5 Cameron Menzies
Gian van Veen 6-4 James Hurrell
Ritchie Edhouse 6-4 Owen Bates
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-5 Matthew Dennant
Wessel Nijman 6-5 Francois Schweyen
Daryl Gurney 6-1 Thibault Tricole
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Darius Labanauskas
Evening Session
Ross Smith 6-5 Sybren Gijbels
Ryan Searle 6-2 Darryl Pilgrim
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Patrick De Backer
Boris Krcmar 6-3 Josh Rock
Michael Smith 6-5 Ryan Joyce
Raymond van Barneveld 6-4 Cam Crabtree
Mike De Decker 6-5 Thomas Lovely
Martin Schindler 6-3 Jim Long
Saturday March 8
Second Round
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 GMT)
Danny Noppert v Daryl Gurney
Gary Anderson v Luke Woodhouse
Dave Chisnall v Ricardo Pietreczko
Jonny Clayton v Wessel Nijman
Rob Cross v Ross Smith
Damon Heta v Michael Smith
Stephen Bunting v Jermaine Wattimena
Nathan Aspinall v Ritchie Edhouse
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 GMT)
James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld
Peter Wright v Matt Campbell
Gerwyn Price v Gian van Veen
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Martin Schindler
Luke Humphries v Mike De Decker
Luke Littler v Ryan Searle
Michael van Gerwen v Boris Krcmar
Chris Dobey v Dirk van Duijvenbode
——ENDS—–
Images: Jenny Segers/PDC Europe
