Mensur Suljovic continued his resurgence on home soil to dump out Cameron Menzies on Day One at the Austrian Darts Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Austrian trailblazer delighted his adoring crowd with a ruthless display, pinning 75% of his attempts at double to celebrate a resounding 6-2 victory over Menzies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suljovic made a semi-final and a quarter-final during this week’s ProTour double-header in Hildesheim, and he built on that momentum to set up a showdown against third seed James Wade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That was absolutely brilliant,”\u00a0declared Suljovic, who memorably lifted the Austrian Darts Championship back in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I love this crowd. This is my family! Thank you!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite an early exit for Menzies, Peter Wright and Alan Soutar preserved Scottish hopes with emphatic 6-2 wins during Friday’s bumper double session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wright swept aside Austrian veteran Zoran Lerchbacher to register his first European Tour victory in 2026, which sees him advance to a meeting with reigning champion Martin Schindler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soutar, meanwhile, punished a dismal display from Raymond van Barneveld in returning to winning ways on the big stage, and he now faces another Dutchman in the form of Danny Noppert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were mixed fortunes for the Dutch contingent in Graz, with Dirk van Duijvenbode succumbing at the expense of Latvia’s number one Madars Razma, despite averaging over a ton in defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Razma’s reward is a clash against top seed Gian van Veen, while Niels Zonneveld will face last year’s runner-up Ross Smith, after piling in a magical 135 checkout to sink James Hurrell in a decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kevin Doets also impressed at the Stadthalle, averaging 99 to dump out his quick-fire compatriot Chris Landman, having celebrated his maiden PDC ranking title at Players Championship Eleven on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ian White claimed the scalp of 2022\/23 World Champion Michael Smith in a battle of the former European Tour winners, running out a 6-4 victor to set up a meeting against Daryl Gurney for a place in the last 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dave Chisnall was another high-profile casualty on Friday evening, as the eight-time European Tour event winner faltered on the outer-ring in his 6-3 defeat against Spanish star Cristo Reyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rob Owen prevailed in his first European Tour appearance of 2026, defying Joe Cullen’s late rearguard to progress in a last-leg decider, having initially raced into a 4-1 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier in the day, Niko Springer landed a trio of ton-plus checkouts \u2013 including a fabulous 167 \u2013 to seal a 6-3 victory over Nick Kenny, and Wessel Nijman now awaits the German in a fascinating tussle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Springer’s fellow countrymen Gabriel Clemens and Ricardo Pietreczko crashed out at the first hurdle, losing out to Ryan Joyce and Hungarian qualifier Patrik Kovacs respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim Huybrechts claimed a potentially decisive win in the race to qualify for July’s World Matchplay, defeating Czechia’s Karel Sedlacek 6-3 to set up a meeting with seventh seed Chris Dobey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
William O’Connor overcame Sweden’s Anton Ostlund by the same scoreline, and the Irishman will now face former World Champion Rob Cross in Saturday’s afternoon session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding accounted for Host Nation debutant Nick Zwittnigg in a gruelling contest, before Poland’s number one Krzysztof Ratajski came through a stiff test against Aaron Hardy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ratajski’s next assignment will be a blockbuster showdown against three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen, who will be amongst the star attractions on Day Two in Graz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS Mensur Suljovic continued his resurgence on home soil to dump out Cameron Menzies on Day One at the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-12688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
Round One
<\/strong>Ryan Joyce 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Patrik Kovacs 6-4 Ricardo Pietreczko
Niels Zonneveld 6-5 James Hurrell
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Nick Zwittnigg
William O’Connor 6-3 Anton Ostlund
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Aaron Hardy
Niko Springer 6-3 Nick Kenny
Kevin Doets 6-3 Chris Landman
<\/strong>Cristo Reyes 6-3 Dave Chisnall
Rob Owen 6-5 Joe Cullen
Kim Huybrechts 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Peter Wright 6-2 Zoran Lerchbacher
Alan Soutar 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Cameron Menzies
Madars Razma 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Ian White 6-4 Michael Smith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"