Luke Woodhouse stole the headlines with a sensational nine-darter on the opening day of the European Darts Championship to\u00a0set up a tantalising clash with reigning champion Gian van Veen in Dortmund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Woodhouse raised the roof on a thrilling night of action at the Westfalenhalle, achieving perfection during his 6-3 win against Dirk van Duijvenbode in the opening match of the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat felt really good,\u201d admitted 2024 semi-finalist Woodhouse, who also averaged north of 99 to book his place in the last 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had a chance for a nine-darter at the World Championship and that didn\u2019t go very well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know it\u2019s a cliche but the most important thing is the win, so I tried to get myself nice and calm and just crack on with the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling really good at the moment. I\u2019ve probably had the best 12 months of my life darts wise, so let\u2019s hope it\u2019s my weekend!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Veen, meanwhile, became the first defending European Champion to register victory at this event since 2018, courtesy of a spirited 6-4 success against Andrew Gilding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gilding started strongly to establish a 3-2 cushion, but the Dutch number one bounced back strongly, winning four of the last five legs to kick off his bid for back-to-back titles on German soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAndrew put me under pressure every leg, but I took my chances and the defence is up and running,\u201d reflected world number three Van Veen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter the game I was told about the previous champions losing in the first round and luckily I didn\u2019t know that before the game, because that would have been extra pressure for myself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tricky game against Luke, but it\u2019s a match I\u2019m looking forward to and thankfully I got this one out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gerwyn Price also impressed on Thursday\u2019s opening night, landing a brace of ton-plus checkouts during his 6-2 demolition of two-time champion Rob Cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Welsh number one kicked off proceedings with a superb 127 on the bull, before capping off a stellar display with a 135 combination to progress with a 99.26 average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2018 winner James Wade was another high-profile casualty in Dortmund, squandering four match darts against Damon Heta, who fought back from 5-3 adrift to triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, 2022 champion and top seed Ross Smith avoided a similar fate, defeating a spirited Karel Sedlacek 6-4 to create a round two tussle against Australian number one Heta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen Bunting also came out on top in a dramatic affair against Danny Noppert, conjuring a spectacular 160 checkout to eliminate the fifth seed in a breathless decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bunting\u2019s reward will be a meeting with Kim Huybrechts, after the Belgian capitalised on his late call-up for the event with a remarkable 6-1 demolition of Ryan Searle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huybrechts – drafted in as a replacement after Luke Humphries withdrew from the tournament through illness \u2013 averaged 103.81 to celebrate his first win at the European Championship since 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Scotland\u2019s number two Cameron Menzies accounted for newly crowned Dutch Darts Champion Niels Zonneveld, running out a 6-3 winner to set up a showdown against Price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS Luke Woodhouse stole the headlines with a sensational nine-darter on the opening day of the European Darts Championship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-16953","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\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\n\t\t
Round One <\/strong>
Luke Woodhouse 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode (Luke Woodhouse hit a nine-dart finish<\/em>)
Stephen Bunting 6-5 Danny Noppert
Cameron Menzies 6-3 Niels Zonneveld
Gerwyn Price 6-2 Rob Cross
Damon Heta 6-5 James Wade
Kim Huybrechts 6-1 Ryan Searle
Gian van Veen 6-4 Andrew Gilding
Ross Smith 6-4 Karel Sedlacek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"