Dirk van Duijvenbode (Photo by Johannes Michel/PDC Europe)
Dirk van Duijvenbode will meet reigning champion Luke Humphries in round two of the Czech Darts Open after battling past Cor Dekker in Prague.
Van Duijvenbode fought off a fightback from Norway’s Dekker, running out a 6-4 winner having led 4-0, to set up a clash with Humphries on Saturday at the PVA Expo.
The Dutchman was one of 16 players to set up round two ties against the 16 seeded players as the European Tour event kicked off in the Czech capital.
World Champion Luke Littler will face Cameron Menzies after the Scot saw off Ian White 6-3 with a 100.91 average.
“I’m buzzing to play, in my opinion, the best darts player in the world,” said Menzies.
“I’m a massive fan of Luke Humphries but I feel Littler right now is the man.
“To play him up here on this stage tomorrow will be an experience and I’m looking forward to it.”
Nathan Aspinall made a winning return to PDC action, whitewashing Czech qualifier Jiri Brejcha 6-0 to set up a meeting with world number five James Wade.
“It felt good to be back up here after not playing for a while,” reflected Aspinall, who last featured in July’s World Matchplay.
“The rhythm was awful, my throw was terrible; I could tell I hadn’t played darts for seven weeks.
“I need to be better tomorrow, otherwise I’ll get hammered by James.”
World number three Michael van Gerwen will take on Mike De Decker, who averaged 100.9 in a 6-3 win over European Champion Ritchie Edhouse.
“This week I changed back to my old set up and everything feels more comfortable,” said World Grand Prix champion De Decker.
“We all know what Michael’s been through this year, I get along with him very well.
“We will see tomorrow, if the best version of Michael turns up I’m in for a tough task.”
2023 Czech Darts Open winner Peter Wright will begin his campaign against Benjamin Pratnemer, after the Slovenian took the scalp of German number two Ricardo Pietreczko.
Krzysztof Ratajski thrashed Raymond van Barneveld 6-1 to cement his place among the provisional qualifiers for October’s World Grand Prix, while William O’Connor boosted his qualification hopes with a 6-5 win over Luke Woodhouse.
Results
Round One: Benjamin Pratnemer 6-4 Ricardo Pietreczko; Madars Razma 6-3 Lukas Unger; Andrew Gilding 6-5 Darius Labanauskas; Cameron Menzies 6-3 Ian White; Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Brendan Dolan; Ryan Joyce 6-3 Karel Sedlacek; William O’Connor 6-5 Luke Woodhouse; Wessel Nijman 6-5 Richard Veenstra; Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Cor Dekker; Ryan Searle 6-2 Filip Manak; Kevin Doets 6-4 Daryl Gurney; Gian van Veen 6-3 Maik Kuivenhoven; Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1 Raymond van Barneveld; Nathan Aspinall 6-0 Jiri Brejcha; Mike De Decker 6-3 Ritchie Edhouse; Niko Springer 6-5 Joe Cullen
