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It was a high quality day in Venray as four Dutch stars all booked their places in the second round of the competition, following opening day victories in the fourth European Tour event of the year.
The afternoon’s action began with a thrilling match between Daryl Gurney and John Michael that went the full distance and eventually, Michael edged out Gurney in a final leg decider to set up a second round tie with second seed Michael Smith.
John Henderson started his tournament off with a solid 6-4 win over Prakash Jiwa and set up a tie with Jamie Caven. Henderson is looking to continue his European Tour success after finishing runner of two months ago in Munich.
Dimitri Van den Bergh bowed out of the competition in the third match as he lost to David Pallett 6-4 in the opening round, the latter will play James Wade. William O’Connor progressed convincingly with a 6-2 win over Brett Claydon, setting up a second round tie with Kim Huybrechts.
The experienced Mensur Suljovic booked his place in the second round on Saturday after coming from behind against Johnny Clayton to set up a clash with world number one Michael van Gerwen. Former Lakeside champion Christian Kist set up a tie to look forward to with Brendan Dolan after sealing a 6-4 win over Cristo Reyes.
Another experienced man Wayne Jones bowed out to young Josh Payne after losing 6-3. Payne will play Steven Bunting in the second stage. The afternoon’s action was rounded off by Jeffrey de Zwaan beating ‘Rockstar’ Joe Cullen 6-3. The Dutch man will face Ian White in the first match on Saturday.
Afternoon Session Results:
Daryl Gurney 5-6 John Michael
Prakash Jiwa 4-6 John Henderson
Dimitri Van den Bergh 4-6 David Pallett
Brett Claydon 2-6 William O’Connor
Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Johnny Clayton
Christian Kist 6-4 Cristo Reyes
Wayne Jones 3-6 Josh Payne
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-3 Joe Cullen
The evening session kicked off with a thriller of a match after young star Max Hopp knocked out Gerwyn Price in a match that went right to the wire in the final leg. Max Hopp will meet Simon Whitlock in the next round.
Gary Stone provided one of the shocks of the day as he knocked out Dean Winstanley 6-3, and will hope to continue into the last sixteen when he faces Steve Beaton on Saturday. It took eleven legs to separate Nathan Aspinall and James Robinson. Aspinall progressed to set up a tie with Vincent van der Voort.
Young Rowby-John Rodriguez booked his place in the last thirty-two after overcoming Davyd Venken and will play Justin Pipe in the next round. Darren Webster was knocked out by ‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans, and he will come up against Mervyn King on Saturday.
Jelle Klassen delighted his home crowd as he knocked out Alan Norris after a fast start from Klassen fired himself into a 3-0 lead, and then managed to secure a 6-4 victory and set up a last 32 tie with Dave Chisnall.
Kyle Anderson ensured that he would take his place on Saturday when he saw off Kenny Neyens convincingly, and made sure that he will face Peter Wright in the second round. Jerry Hendricks rounded off the action on Friday, knocking out Wes Newton, and setting up a second round tie with Terry Jenkins.
Evening Session Results:
Max Hopp 6-5 Gerwyn Price
Gary Stone 6-3 Dean Winstanley
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Jamie Robinson
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-2 Davyd Venken
Darren Webster 3-6 Ricky Evans
Jelle Klaasen 6-4 Alan Norris
Kenny Neyens 2-6 Kyle Anderson
Jerry Hendriks 6-3 Wes Newton
