ANTONY LOPEZ was joined by three European Tour debutants in winning through Thursday's Host Nation Qualifier for the Gibraltar Darts Trophy.
Policeman Lopez has previously competed in the European Tour event at the Victoria Stadium in the past four years, and will make his fifth successive appearance when the £135,000 event begins on Friday.
He defeated top Gibraltarian Dyson Parody 6-5 in the decisive game of the qualifiers, having previously overcome former qualifier and World Cup representative Manolo Vilerio.
Parody's team-mate at last weekend's Betway World Cup of Darts, Justin Broton, also missed out with a narrow 6-5 loss to Clayton Otton in the last 16.
Top local youngster Otton went on to qualify by defeating George Ramos 6-1 to earn his European Tour debut.
Roy Asquez - a semi-finalist in the 2018 Gibraltar Open - and Tony Dawkins were the other qualifiers on the night, with the latter having competed in the 2015 PDC Qualifying School.
Otton's reward for qualification is a first round tie on Friday with two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis.
Lopez will meet Paul Nicholson in round one, while Dawkins faces Jermaine Wattimena and Asquez takes on Austria's Hannes Schnier.
The Gibraltar Darts Trophy will be broadcast throughout the weekend for PDCTV-HD Subscribers, and through a series of bookmakers' websites worldwide.
Click here to see the full draw & schedule of play for the 2018 Gibraltar Darts Trophy
2018 Gibraltar Darts Trophy 2018
Host Nation Qualifier
Last 16
Dyson Parody 6-5 Christian Tosso
Antony Lopez 6-2 Manolo Vilerio
Clayton Otton 6-5 Justin Broton
George Ramos 6-3 Nathan Old
David Francis 6-1 Craig Galliano
Roy Asquez 6-1 Steve March
Jarvis Bautista 6-3 Jeremy Cruz
Tony Dawkins 6-2 Keith Medhurst
Last Eight
Antony Lopez 6-5 Dyson Parody
Clayton Otton 6-1 George Ramos
Roy Asquez 6-5 David Francis
Tony Dawkins 6-3 Jarvis Bautista
Host Nation Qualifiers
HNQ1 Antony Lopez
HNQ2 Clayton Otton
HNQ3 Roy Asquez
HNQ4 Tony Dawkins