Unibet European Championship Darts 2015: Scores, Results, Schedule After Friday
Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen are both through to the second round of the 2015 European Darts Championship after wins over Vincent van der Voort and Jeffrey de Zwaan, respectively, on Friday.
World champion Gary Anderson is also into the last 16 after grabbing a solid win. There were some big shocks on the day, though, as World Grand Prix winner and fifth-seeded Robert Thornton was dumped out of the competition by John Henderson. Raymond van Barneveld is also out, as he was defeated by compatriot Jelle Klaasen.
Here are the results in full from an absorbing day of action in Belgium and a recap of some of the standout moments from Friday’s play
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| Cristo Reyes | 6-2 | Max Hopp |
| Christian Kist | 4-6 | Rowby-John Rodriguez |
| Simon Whitlock | 6-2 | Magnus Caris |
| Justin Pipe | 6-2 | Dirk van Duijvenbode |
| Michael Smith | 6-4 | Gerwyn Price |
| Ian White (8) | 5-6 | Stephen Bunting |
| Robert Thornton (5) | 4-6 | John Henderson |
| Peter Wright (4) | 6-3 | Alan Norris |
| Adrian Lewis (6) | 6-5 | Benito van de Pas |
| Mensur Suljovic | 5-6 | Dave Chisnall |
| James Wade (7) | 6-3 | Terry Jenkins |
| Gary Anderson (2) | 6-3 | Brendan Dolan |
| Jelle Klaasen | 6-4 | Raymond van Barneveld |
| Phil Taylor (3) | 6-1 | Vincent van der Voort |
| Michael van Gerwen (1) | 6-3 | Jeffrey de Zwaan |
| Kim Huybrechts | 6-3 | Mervyn King |
| (1) Michael van Gerwen | vs. | Cristo Reyes |
| Stephen Bunting | vs. | Dave Chisnall |
| John Henderson | vs. | Rowby-John Rodriguez |
| (4) Peter Wright | vs. | Kim Huybrechts |
| (2) Gary Anderson | vs. | Simon Whitlock |
| (7) James Wade | vs. | Jelle Klaasen |
| (6) Adrian Lewis | vs. | Justin Pipe |
| (3) Phil Taylor | vs. | Michael Smith |
Taylor, Van Gerwen Progress on Gripping Opening Day
Van der Voort has proved to be a tricky opponent down the years, as Taylor discovered when losing to the Dutchman at the World Grand Prix earlier this month. But the man from Stoke-on-Trent had no issues disposing of his opponent this time in a lopsided match.
The Dutchman won the first leg, setting up what had the potential to be a thriller. The Power, though, turned up the heat from that point on, rattling off six legs in succession to secure an easy 6-1 victory.
As PerfectDarts touched upon, there was still some room for improvement from Taylor despite the nature of his victory:
Top seed and world No. 1 Van Gerwen got off to an appalling start against De Zwaan. In fairness to the debutant, he began the tie on fire, checking out 74 and then a sensational 156 to take a 2-0 lead. However, once MVG got into the groove, there was only going to be one winner.
The top seed levelled the game up at 2-2 before moving through the gears for the remainder of the contest and eventually securing an easy 6-3 win.
Anderson is the second seed for this tournament and provided a reminder of his quality with a decent display against Brendan Dolan. The Northern Irishman is a gnarly competitor, but the reigning world champion ultimately had too much for his opponent in a 6-3 triumph.
As we can see here, courtesy of the official PDC Twitter account, the Scot is relieved to have gotten the better of Dolan, given the head-to-head record between the pair:
Adrian Lewis and James Wade are also seeded for this competition, and they both made their way into the second round with contrasting performances.
Wade faced a tricky tie against Terry Jenkins in his tournament opener but was sure enough in a 6-3 win. On the other hand, Lewis was pushed all the way by outsider Benito van de Pas but eventually held his nerve to take the odd leg from 11.
There were some shocks earlier in the day, as fifth-seeded Thornton was eliminated at the hands of Henderson. The underdog showcased some scintillating finishing during his victory, taking out ton-plus finishes on three separate occasions to down Thornton, who has been in fine form as of late.
As we can see here, courtesy of Live Darts, it was a heavy-scoring contest between the two fiercely competitive Scots:
Van Barneveld, a five-time world champion, has also been sent packing, as the lightning-fast Klaasen grabbed a 6-4 win over his compatriot.
Stephen Bunting was pushed hard in his match against eighth-seeded Ian White but eventually scrambled through by a 6-5 scoreline, while home-crowd hero Kim Huybrechts sent the fans home happy, beating Mervyn King 6-3 in the final match of the night.
The first round of the competition churned out some fascinating contests, and the 16-strong field will be whittled down to just eight when the action gets back underway on Saturday.
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