Van Gerwen Looks Dangerous As Four Seeds Crash Out In European Darts Trophy

The top four seeds in the competition, Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith, James Wade and Adrian Lewis all booked their places in finals day in Mulheim on Day Two of the European Darts Trophy.

Brendan Dolan was the first seed to fall in the afternoon session as he was dumped out by Cristo Reyes. The Spaniard reeled off four straight legs to book his place in the last sixteen with a 6-4 win over the Northern Irishman.

Robert Thornton won the last European Tour event, and would love to make it two on the bounce. He was broken early on by Dutchman Christian Kist, but battled back to reach the last sixteen with a 6-4 victory.

Justin Pipe got the better of Mensur Suljovic in the third match of the second round. The game was played at a slow place as you would expect as Pipe survived three match darts from the Austrian before stepping in to claim a 6-5 victory.

Terry Jenkins came from 4-1 down to record a 6-5 triumph against Steve West in the match of the day. The pair hit four maximums a piece, but a 103 average from West wasn’t enough to close out a victory against ‘The Raging Bull’, who averaged an impressive 108.

Benito van de Pas was the next seed to bite the dust as he was beaten by World number 106 Jason Lovett in a huge upset. The man from Norfolk established a 4-2 lead before closing out a 6-4 win.

Mervyn King had trouble on the doubles early on in the piece, but he battled through it to record a 6-4 victory over Daryl Gurney. ‘The King’ found himself 3-1, and then 4-2 behind before winning four straight legs and advancing to the next round, averaging 101.5 in the process.

Kim Huybrechts produced one of the performances of the day as he demolished home crowd favourite Max Hopp. The German played well on Friday to beat van Barneveld, but was stopped in his tracks by the rampant Belgian, who landed three maximums, 66% on the doubles and averaged 107.3 to whitewash the youngster.

Kevin Painter followed up his much needed win against Alan Norris with another win here, this time toppling the seeded Vincent van der Voort. ‘The Artist’ hit four 180s on his way to beating the rapid van der Voort 6-4 to round off the afternoon session.

Ian White is becoming to be a bogey player for Stephen Bunting on the PDC circuit as he lost out to ‘The Diamond’ for the fourth consecutive time in competitive matches. White averaged a solid 98.8 to book his place in the last sixteen following a 6-3 win over ‘The Bullet’.

Dave Chisnall celebrated his 35th Birthday in style with a second round 6-2 win over Jan Dekker in Mulheim. The Premier League semi-finalist averaged 99 in a good performance that sends him through to finals day at the SportHalle.

Number four seed Adrian Lewis kicked off his European Darts Trophy campaign with a 6-3 victory over James Wilson, continuing his good run of form, coming off the back of a World Series victory. A 98.8 averaged saw ‘Jackpot’ through to finals day.

Michael van Gerwen is back, and will take some stopping this weekend if he plays like he did in the dismantaling of Adam Hunt. ‘The Green Machine’ averaged 107.7 and 66% on the doubles in a 6-1 win for MvG. The Dutchman said in a post-match interview that he ‘let himself down’ in Australia, and is keen to hit back here with a tournament win.

Peter Wright won five consecutive legs midway through his match with Andy Jenkins, and it was that flawless run that ultimately handed him a 6-4 win over Jenkins. ‘Snakebite’ took out three ton-plus finishes on his way to recording a good win.

Michael Smith booked his place in the last sixteen following a 6-3 win over former Premier League star Wes Newton. The number two seed raced into a 3-0 lead, which Newton never recovered from as the St. Helens ace went on to seal the victory.

James Wade’s 6-1 win over Darren Johnson looked convincing on the scoreboard, but ‘The Machine’ averaged an uncharacteristic 90.44 as he booked his place in the last sixteen.

Rowby-John Rodriguez recorded consecutive 6-1 victories as he averaged 97.33 to knock another seed out of the competition in Simon Whitlock. The young Austrian hit four 180s in a 6-1 rout to round off the day’s action.