Dimitri Van den Bergh continued his run of form with an impressive second round win at the Interwetten European Darts Matchplay on Saturday, as ten seeds were eliminated in Trier.
Van den Bergh enjoyed a superb June with World Series of Darts victories in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, and began his bid to claim a maiden European Tour success in stunning fashion against Florian Hempel.
The Belgian averaged 110.83 in a 6-2 win over the German star, opening with a 152 checkout and landing eight 180s and a ten-darter during a dominant display.
Van den Bergh will now meet Damon Heta in Sunday afternoon’s third round, with the Australian World Cup winner defeating Callan Rydz 6-4 from 4-3 down in their second round meeting.
Saturday’s action saw a host of seeded stars knocked out of the PDC European Tour event at Arena Trier, headlined by top seed Gerwyn Price as he went down 6-2 to Rowby-John Rodriguez.
Premier League runner-up Joe Cullen paid the price for failing to close out his tie with Ian White, who progressed in a deciding leg, while a 103 average was not enough to stop World Grand Prix champion Jonny Clayton being knocked out 6-4 by emerging star Scott Williams.
Daryl Gurney, Martin Schindler and Dirk van Duijvenbode were other seeds to be knocked out in Saturday’s evening session as they all lost in a deciding leg, with Gabriel Clemens, Madars Razma and Jeffrey de Zwaan capitalising to progress.
Germany’s Lukas Wenig delighted the Trier crowd as he followed up an earlier 170 checkout with a match-winning 167 finish in a 6-4 win over Chris Dobey.
Martin Lukeman, a European Tour finalist earlier this year, overcame Ryan Searle 6-4, while Wesley Plaisier knocked out Jose de Sousa for the loss of just one leg and Luke Woodhouse overcame Polish number one Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3.
Rob Cross survived four missed match darts from James Wilson before taking out 104 in the deciding leg of their tie, while Stephen Bunting took out 110 to deny Polish youngster Sebastian Bialecki in another 11-leg thriller.
Nathan Aspinall pulled away from two-all to reel off four straight legs as he moved through to a tie with Williams on Sunday afternoon.
Luke Humphries, a three-time European Tour winner this year, defied a ton-plus average from Cameron Menzies to claim a 6-4 win as he moved through to a last 16 clash with Wenig.
The £140,000 tournament concludes on Sunday, with the afternoon session’s third round followed in the decisive evening session by the 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.
2022 Interwetten European Darts Matchplay
Saturday July 2
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Luke Woodhouse 6-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
Rob Cross 6-5 James Wilson
Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Jermaine Wattimena
Stephen Bunting 6-5 Sebastian Bialecki
Damon Heta 6-4 Callan Rydz
Martin Lukeman 6-4 Ryan Searle
Wesley Plaisier 6-1 Jose de Sousa
Lukas Wenig 6-4 Chris Dobey
Evening Session
Luke Humphries 6-4 Cameron Menzies
Scott Williams 6-4 Jonny Clayton
Gabriel Clemens 6-5 Daryl Gurney
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-2 Gerwyn Price
Ian White 6-5 Joe Cullen
Madars Razma 6-5 Martin Schindler
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-2 Florian Hempel
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-5 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Sunday July 3
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Third Round
Rowby-John Rodriguez v Gabriel Clemens
Nathan Aspinall v Scott Williams
Wesley Plaisier v Madars Razma
Rob Cross v Luke Woodhouse
Martin Lukeman v Stephen Bunting
Damon Heta v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Luke Humphries v Lukas Wenig
Ian White v Jeffrey de Zwaan
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
—–ENDS—–
Images: Kais Bodensieck / PDC Europe
