European Championship Darts 2017: Michael van Gerwen, Simon Whitlock Advance

Michael van Gerwen and Simon Whitlock easily made it out of the second round of the 2017 European Championship darts on Friday, losing just a single leg between them.

The Dutchman cruised to a 10-1 win over Ian White, while Whitlock whitewashed Alan Norris. Earlier in the day, Dave Chisnall and Peter Wright won their Round 1 matches.

For the full results, visit the PDC's official website.

Recap

Van Gerwen was given a tricky draw against White, but the Dutch star found his rhythm early and won four of the first five legs ahead of the break. One of those legs ended with a fantastic double-double, as Mighty Mike flashed all of his talent, via the PDC's official Twitter account:

The Dutchman pushed his lead to 6-1 with a sensational 164 finish and carried that momentum to the finish line, winning 10-1 with an average over 105.00.

Another top performance came from Whitlock, who whitewashed Norris during the evening session. The Australian took full advantage of every single mistake his opponent made:

While Norris struggled, Whitlock maintained a solid average and did excellent work on the doubles. The Wizard finished with 48 percent on his checkouts and an average just shy of 96, more than 10 points above that of Norris. The latter missed all 13 of his opportunities on the doubles.

The afternoon session also saw several top players in action, including Wright. Snakebite took on the little-known Krzysztof Ratajski from Poland and put up some solid numbers in a routine win:

Fresh off a win in the Germans Darts Masters, Snakebite has to be ranked among the favourites to triumph at the European Championship as well. His finishing was far from perfect on Friday, but Wright tends to grow during tournaments and should improve by Sunday.

Chisnall also advanced safely to the next round after dropping just a single leg against Cristo Reyes, one of the top performances of the day. He won't have it easy in the next round, however:

Chizzy has struggled for form since his quarter-final appearance at the World Championship, but he remains a top player and Premier League regular who can beat anyone on his day.

In the final match of the day, Mensur Suljovic beat Gerwyn Price despite the latter sinking an 11-darter.