MICHAEL VAN GERWEN produced a second successive whitewash over Jamie Caven in stunning fashion as the second round of the HappyBet European Darts Open came to a close at the Maritim Hotel in Dusseldorf on Saturday.
After missing two leg darts in the opener, Caven wasn’t afforded a sniff as the Dutch maestro landed a 90 checkout to break and set the tone.
A 112 finish signalled van Gerwen’s intent in the second, before he quickly skittled away the remaining four legs for victory averaging 104.86 and clinically landing 75% on the doubles.
Caven will be sick of the sight of the world number one, with this thumping following the 10-0 whitewash the Dutchman dished out at the BetVictor World Matchplay a fortnight earlier before going on to take the Blackpool title.
World Champion Gary Anderson continued his impressive form as he posted the highest average of the competition so far at 107.11 in a 6-1 victory over Kim Viljanen.
Having shared the opening legs, Anderson found top gear as he claimed five legs in a row, hitting three maximums in the process, to storm to a comfortable victory over the Finnish qualifier.
After a shaky opening day performance, Gerwyn Price will be delighted with his second round effort as he destroyed former European Champion Simon Whitlock 6-1.
The Welsh ace displayed incredible finishing in the opening stages as he followed up a 141 in the first leg with a tournament high 161 checkout to break in the second.
He then raced into a 4-0 lead before Whitlock broke in the fifth to claim his first leg, but he failed to kick on as Price clinched two more legs for victory, averaging over 100 in the process.
Peter Wright can count himself a little fortuitous to be in the third round as he squeezed past Steve West 6-5.
West sprinted into a 5-2 lead, before Wright landed a 120 checkout and tops in the ninth to break and close the gap to one.
With the crowd firmly behind Wright, West then missed four match darts allowing his opponent to land an unorthodox tops-double ten finish to clinch the match.
It was a similar story for James Wade as he narrowly edged past Andy Boulton by the same scoreline.
In a scrappy affair, Wade broke at crucial times but will be looking for drastic improvement when he faces Jelle Klaasen on Sunday.
Dave Chisnall was the only seeded player to crash out of the evening session as he lost 6-3 to Jan Dekker.
In a dogged match, the doubles proved clinical with Dekker landing 42 per cent to Chisnall’s 27 per cent as he reached the third round for the first time on the European Tour.
Arguably the game of the day came in the final match, as Australia’s Kyle Anderson beat Alan Norris 6-3.
The pair landed four maximums each, and both averaged around the 100 mark before Anderson came out on top.
Norris missed crucial doubles at critical times with the Australian proving far more clinical as he landed 60% on his checkouts to set up a third round clash with van Gerwen.
Elsewhere, Kim Huybrechts also produced a strong performance as he landed a tournament-high five 180s in a 6-3 victory over compatriot Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Earlier in the day, defending champion Robert Thornton was sent crashing out of the HappyBet European Darts Open as he lost to another former European Tour winner, Wes Newton.
Having broken in the opening leg, Thornton looked positive but the pair traded breaks for the opening four legs.
From then on, former UK Open finalist Newton, who has struggled for form of late, never looked back as he cruised to a 6-2 victory.
The performance of the afternoon came from Austria’s Mensur Suljovic as he posted a 103.41 average in a 6-1 demolition of Greece's John Michael.
Having raced into a four-leg lead, Suljovic proved too clinical as he landed two-thirds of his darts at doubles on his way to victory.
Another seed was dumped out of the competition as Dutch youngster Benito van de Pas fell victim to the in-form Daryl Gurney in a 6-4 thriller.
After breaking in the sixth leg, the win looked to be heading van de Pas’ way, only for Gurney to produce a brilliant comeback to secure his spot in the third round.
The last German hope of the competition dwindled quickly as Stephen Bunting dumped Stefan Stoyke out with a 6-1 thumping.
After his comeback heroics on day one, Devon Petersen couldn’t carry that form into day two as he was comfortably beaten by Ian White 6-2.
Jelle Klaasen also put in a dominant performance as he overcame Ritchie Edhouse 6-3, whilst Terry Jenkins saw off Jonny Clayton 6-3 and world number seven Michael Smith sealed his progression with a 6-4 victory over tricky customer James Richardson.
The HappyBet European Darts Open will conclude on Sunday with the third round being played in the afternoon, before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in the evening.
The HappyBet European Darts Open will be streamed worldwide through www.LIVEPDC.TV for all subscribers.
Live coverage with faster streams is also available at the following betting websites:
www.betfair.com - UK, Ireland, Spain & Denmark
www.tempobet700.com - Worldwide
www.fonbet.com/en - Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia
Live Scores will be available at the new-look PDC Live Scores website, http://live.dartsdata.com .
HappyBet European Darts Open
Saturday July 30
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Terry Jenkins 6-3 Jonny Clayton
Stephen Bunting 6-1 Stefan Stoyke
Robert Thornton 2-6 Wes Newton
Jelle Klaasen 6-3 Ritchie Edhouse
Benito van de Pas 4-6 Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic 6-1 John Michael
Ian White 6-2 Devon Petersen
Michael Smith 6-4 James Richardson
Evening Session
Simon Whitlock 1-6 Gerwyn Price
Kim Huybrechts 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Dave Chisnall 3-6 Jan Dekker
Peter Wright 6-5 Steve West
Gary Anderson 6-1 Kim Viljanen
James Wade 6-5 Andy Boulton
Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Jamie Caven
Alan Norris 3-6 Kyle Anderson
Sunday July 31
Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm local time, 12pm-4pm BST)
Third Round
Michael Smith v Stephen Bunting
Ian White v Terry Jenkins
Daryl Gurney v Mensur Suljovic
Peter Wright v Gerwyn Price
Jan Dekker v Gary Anderson
Kim Huybrechts v Wes Newton
Jelle Klaasen v James Wade
Michael van Gerwen v Kyle Anderson
Evening Session (7pm-11pm local time, 6pm-10pm BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
Match Stats
| Ave | 180s | High Finish | Ave | 180s | High Finish | |||
| 91.28 | 3 | 6/15 | Terry Jenkins | 6-3 | Jonny Clayton | 94.48 | 2 | 3/10 |
| 93.74 | 1 | 6/9 | Stephen Bunting | 6-1 | Stefan Stoyke | 80.06 | 0 | 1/3 |
| 86.65 | 0 | 2/6 | Robert Thornton | 2-6 | Wes Newton | 86.6 | 1 | 6/16 |
| 98.98 | 2 | 6/14 | Jelle Klaasen | 6-3 | Ritchie Edhouse | 94.02 | 1 | 3/8 |
| 91.84 | 1 | 4/8 | Benito van de Pas | 4-6 | Daryl Gurney | 94.1 | 3 | 6/11 |
| 103.41 | 2 | 6/9 | Mensur Suljovic | 6-1 | John Michael | 94.36 | 2 | 1/5 |
| 96 | 0 | 6/15 | Ian White | 6-2 | Devon Petersen | 84.42 | 1 | 2/3 |
| 97.39 | 3 | 6/14 | Michael Smith | 6-4 | James Richardson | 87.95 | 0 | 4/12 |
| 92.72 | 4 | 1/6 | Simon Whitlock | 1-6 | Gerwyn Price | 100.59 | 0 | 6/9 |
| 98.11 | 5 | 6/14 | Kim Huybrechts | 6-3 | Dimitri Van den Bergh | 88.48 | 2 | 3/13 |
| 90.62 | 0 | 3/11 | Dave Chisnall | 3-6 | Jan Dekker | 86.23 | 0 | 6/14 |
| 97.29 | 2 | 6/15 | Peter Wright | 6-5 | Steve West | 92.1 | 2 | 5/12 |
| 107.11 | 3 | 6/14 | Gary Anderson | 6-1 | Kim Viljanen | 89.72 | 0 | 1/2 |
| 88.16 | 0 | 6/21 | James Wade | 6-5 | Andy Boulton | 89.67 | 2 | 5/17 |
| 104.86 | 3 | 6/8 | Michael van Gerwen | 6-0 | Jamie Caven | 87.96 | 2 | 0/2 |
| 101.25 | 4 | 3/11 | Alan Norris | 3-6 | Kyle Anderson | 98.84 | 4 | 6/10 |