Raymond van Barneveld rolled back the years at the Hungarian Darts Trophy to set up a fascinating encounter with 2021 champion Gerwyn Price in Budapest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Barneveld stole the show on a thrilling day of action in the Hungarian capital, averaging 107.97 to dispatch 2023 champion Dave Chisnall 6-1 and leapfrog the St Helens star on the European Tour rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutch legend was irrepressible from start to finish at the MVM Dome, registering five 180s and converting an effortless 144 checkout to cap off a vintage display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Today it just clicked,”\u00a0reflected Van Barneveld, who will aim to reach his first European Tour quarter-final of 2025 tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I went back to the shorter stems a couple of weeks ago and I feel more positive. I often don’t manage to take my form from the practice room on to the stage, but today it worked and I’m really happy with this win.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Barneveld’s reward will be a showdown with Price, who opened his title challenge with a routine 6-2 victory against Richard Veenstra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It wasn’t spectacular, but I did enough and I’ve got plenty more in the tank,”\u00a0insisted Price, who defeated Van Barneveld at last weekend’s World Series of Darts Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’m playing fantastic darts this year. I just need a little bit of luck, but there’s no reason why I can’t go and lift this trophy again.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Round Two saw a host of big names enter the fray in front of a record-breaking crowd at the MVM Dome, with Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen all advancing to Finals Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen will take on Danny Noppert in an all-Dutch clash on Sunday afternoon, having kicked off his defence of the title with victory over Matthew Dennant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reigning champion ran out a comfortable 6-2 winner over Dennant, while Noppert survived a match dart in edging out Rob Owen, despite squandering five match darts of his own in the penultimate leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Humphries, meanwhile, overcame a 99 average from Nathan Aspinall to begin his bid for back-to-back European Tour titles, landing 68, 72 and 130 combinations in the latter stages of the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world number one will now renew his rivalry with World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker, who won through a one-sided affair against Tom Bissell in Saturday’s finale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World Champion Littler and Martin Schindler will also go head-to-head for a quarter-final berth, following comprehensive wins over Joe Cullen and Ryan Joyce respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Littler pinned six of his eight double attempts during his 6-1 thumping of 2022 champion Cullen, while Schindler reeled off five consecutive legs to dispatch birthday boy Joyce 6-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Josh Rock defied 124, 126 and 161 finishes from Ricardo Pietreczko to triumph in a high-quality encounter in Budapest, as he sets his sights on reaching a third consecutive European Tour final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thibault Tricole now awaits Rock in round three, after the Frenchman survived eight match darts and fought back from 5-2 down to celebrate a landmark win against fourth seed Stephen Bunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere, Rob Cross claimed a crucial win in his bid to qualify for next month’s European Championship, averaging 102 on his way to a 6-3 success against Daryl Gurney.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cross will now play Niko Springer in round three, after the young German followed up his superb win over Gian van Veen with a 6-1 demolition of Australian number one Damon Heta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James Wade also impressed on Day Two in Budapest, producing 135 and 156 checkouts in successive legs to maintain his sparkling form on the European Tour stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wade will now face Kim Huybrechts, after the Belgian withstood a late fightback from two-time World Champion Peter Wright to triumph in a gruelling last-leg decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris Dobey and Cameron Menzies will also lock horns for a place in the quarter-finals, after winning through hard-fought encounters against Darren Beveridge and Ross Smith respectively.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RESULTS Raymond van Barneveld rolled back the years at the Hungarian Darts Trophy to set up a fascinating encounter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3481,"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":[44,7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-3480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-newsbeat","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 Two: <\/strong>Martin Schindler 6-2 Ryan Joyce; Cameron Menzies 6-4 Ross Smith; Danny Noppert 6-5 Rob Owen; Chris Dobey 6-3 Darren Beveridge; Rob Cross 6-3 Daryl Gurney; James Wade 6-3 Luke Woodhouse; Kim Huybrechts 6-5 Peter Wright; Raymond van Barneveld 6-1 Dave Chisnall; Niko Springer 6-1 Damon Heta; Gerwyn Price 6-2 Richard Veenstra; Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Matthew Dennant; Luke Littler 6-1 Joe Cullen; Luke Humphries 6-4 Nathan Aspinall; Thibault Tricole 6-5 Stephen Bunting; Josh Rock 6-3 Ricardo Pietreczko; Mike De Decker 6-2 Tom Bissell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"