Niko Springer’s hopes of winning back-to-back European Tour titles were shattered in a deciding leg by Richard Veenstra at the Swiss Darts Trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
German prospect Springer was victorious in last weekend’s Hungarian Darts Trophy, and he was back in action as the year’s penultimate European Tour event began in Basel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite an early 11-darter, Springer found himself 4-1 down to Veenstra before taking out 120, 94 and 86 to level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The German ace then edged ahead in leg nine, but Veenstra checked out 156 to save the game and 76 to win the decider, moving him through to a round two clash with Rob Cross on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Premier League star Nathan Aspinall eased through to a clash with Jonny Clayton in the last 32, whitewashing Andreas Toft Jorgensen without the PDCNB qualifier having a dart at a double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Krzysztof Ratajski took a huge step towards securing his BOYLE Sports World Grand Prix spot with a 6-0 whitewash of Owen Bates – setting up a second round tie with Mike De Decker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raymond van Barneveld sealed his win over Swiss qualifier Ansh Sood with a 120 checkout, as the Dutchman maintained his World Grand Prix hopes by moving through to face Damon Heta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
William O’Connor also remains in the hunt to snatch World Grand Prix qualification, after averaging over 102 in a superb 6-1 win over Daryl Gurney, for whom a 117 checkout could only briefly stem the tide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reigning European Champion Ritchie Edhouse kept alive his hopes of defending the title with the narrowest of wins against Wessel Nijman, taking out 80 in the deciding leg to progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edhouse now receives a second round Bye, after Ross Smith withdrew on Friday night for family reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ricardp Pietreczko produced three ton-plus finishes to see off Swedish ace Oskar Lukasiak 6-3, creating an all-German second round tie with World Cup partner Martin Schindler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mensur Suljovic finished six doubles from 11 attempts against Grand Slam of Darts finalist Martin Lukeman, and the Austrian ace now plays Chris Dobey on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris Landman fended off Swiss debutant Denis Schnetzer’s comeback from 4-0 down as the Dutch thrower claimed a 6-3 victory to move into a tie with Stephen Bunting on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jermaine Wattimena ended the hopes of Swiss number one Stefan Bellmont with a 6-1 victory which sets up a tie with World Cup winner Josh Rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dirk van Duijvenbode will meet Gian van Veen on Saturday, after seeing off another Dutchman, Jitse van der Wal, by a 6-2 margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Callan Rydz set up a tasty tie with world number one Luke Humphries by defeating Connor Scutt 6-1, averaging over 100 in an impressive display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Woodhouse came from 3-0 down against Lukas Wenig to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a dramatic deciding-leg win, meaning he now plays Dave Chisnall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Niels Zonneveld won five of the final six legs in his tie against Czech qualifier Dalibor Smolik, progressing to a second round clash with Ryan Searle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cor Dekker came from 2-0 down to defeat Andrew Gilding 6-3, and the Norwegian World Cup ace will now meet Peter Wright in round two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan Joyce set up a tie with third seed James Wade after cruising to a whitewash win over Swiss qualifier Rocco Fulciniti, who was denied a dart at a double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Round One<\/strong>: Callan Rydz 6-1\u00a0Connor Scutt; Niels Zonneveld 6-3 Dalibor Smolik; Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 Owen Bates; Cor Dekker 6-3\u00a0Andrew Gilding; Ryan Joyce 6-0 Rocco Fulciniti; Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Lukas Wenig; Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 Oskar Lukasiak; Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Martin Lukeman; Chris Landman 6-3 Denis Schnetzer; Ritchie Edhouse 6-5\u00a0Wessel Nijman; Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 Ansh Sood; Richard Veenstra 6-5 Niko Springer; Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Stefan Bellmont; Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Jitse van der Wal; Nathan Aspinall 6-0 Andreas Toft Jorgensen; William O\u2019Connor 6-1\u00a0Daryl Gurney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Niko Springer’s hopes of winning back-to-back European Tour titles were shattered in a deciding leg by Richard Veenstra<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3747,"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-3746","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