ARRON MONK, Kevin Painter and Kyle Anderson all claimed victories in round one of the Dutch Darts Championship, as the European Tour event began in Maastricht on Friday.
Former World Youth champion Monk struck two ton-plus checkouts to see off former World Grand Prix champion Robert Thornton and progress to the second round of the weekend's £135,000 event.
Monk, who was making his second European Tour appearance of the year, found himself 2-0 down before landing finishes of 118 and 122 to level the tie.
The pair exchanged legs to make it 3-3 before Monk rattled off the next three legs, pinning double ten to wrap up a vital win in the 28-year-old's career.
I've always known I've had the ability
"I've always known I've had the ability, I just have to show it more often," said Monk, who won back his Tour Card at the start of the year.
"I always go into every game thinking 'you can't beat me' and today it turned out that way, it's been coming.
"If I put as much practice in as the other guys I know I can compete with them regularly like I did today."
Former Players Championship Finals winner Kevin Painter enjoyed a winning return to European Tour action as he battled to a 6-5 triumph over Vincent van der Voort, with the Dutchman missing two match darts.
Austria's Rowby-John Rodriguez produced the performance of the day, averaging 100.71 in his 6-3 victory over Robert Marijanovic, though brother Rusty-Jake Rodriguez went down 6-2 to Ross Smith, while Kyle Anderson recorded the only whitewash of the day with a 6-0 win over Christian Bunse.
Barrie Bates rolled back the years to defeat Dutch favourite Jelle Klaasen and claim a first ever European Tour win, while Ryan Searle also enjoyed his first victory on the continent, overcoming Andy Boulton 6-3.
Jeffrey de Graaf was the only Dutchman to book his place in Saturday's action thanks to a 6-5 win over Paul Nicholson.
Jan Dekker, Dirk van Duijvenbode and World Matchplay semi-finalist Jeffrey de Zwaan all suffered defeats on home soil at the hands of Ricky Evans, Josh Payne and Wayne Jones respectively.
Last weekend's German Darts Championship runner-up James Wilson lost 6-4 Cristo Reyes, though Reyes' fellow-Spaniard Toni Alcinas was defeated 6-3 by Lithuania's Darius Labanauskas.
European Matchplay finalist William O'Connor picked up a 6-2 victory over Karel Sedlacek, who became the first Czech player to compete on the European Tour.
Darren Johnson beat Kevin Munch 6-4 in the opening game of the day, while Ritchie Edhouse ground out his first European Tour win in over two years with a 6-4 success over Canada's Dawson Murschell.
Saturday's second round action sees the 16 seeded players enter the tournament, with coverage to be streamed from 1.15pm and 7.15pm local time.
The Dutch Darts Championship will be broadcast throughout the weekend for PDCTV-HD Subscribers, and through a series of bookmakers' websites worldwide.
2018 Dutch Darts Championship
Schedule of Play
Friday September 7
First Round
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
Darren Johnson 6-4 Kevin Munch
William O'Connor 6-2 Karel Sedlacek
Barrie Bates 6-3 Jelle Klaasen
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-3 Robert Marijanovic
Ryan Searle 6-3 Andy Boulton
Ricky Evans 6-3 Jan Dekker
Darius Labanauskas 6-3 Toni Alcinas
Josh Payne 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Evening Session (7.15pm local time, 6.15pm BST)
Wayne Jones 6-2 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Jeffrey de Graaf 6-5 Paul Nicholson
Ritchie Edhouse 6-4 Dawson Murschell
Kevin Painter 6-5 Vincent van der Voort
Ross Smith 6-2 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Arron Monk 6-3 Robert Thornton
Kyle Anderson 6-0 Christian Bunse
Cristo Reyes 6-4 James Wilson
Saturday September 8
Second Round
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
Steve West v Ricky Evans
Mervyn King v Darius Labanauskas
Dave Chisnall v Rowby-John Rodriguez
Joe Cullen v Barrie Bates
Darren Webster v Josh Payne
Gerwyn Price v Darren Johnson
Stephen Bunting v Jeffrey de Graaf
Adrian Lewis v Wayne Jones
Evening Session (7.15pm local time, 6.15pm BST)
Max Hopp v Ross Smith
Ian White v Arron Monk
James Wade v Ritchie Edhouse
Daryl Gurney v Ryan Searle
Peter Wright v Kevin Painter
Michael van Gerwen v William O'Connor
Jonny Clayton v Kyle Anderson
Simon Whitlock v Cristo Reyes
Sunday September 9
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
Third Round
Evening Session (7.15pm local time, 6.15pm BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
Sunday’s games played in Draw Bracket order
Watch Online
PDC European Tour events can be watched online by all PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide - click here to visit PDCTV-HD.
Live coverage with faster streams may also be available at the following bookmakers' websites:
bet365 - www.bet365.com - Worldwide
Bet90 - www.bet90.com - Brazil, Germany
Betfair - www.betfair.com - Brazil, Denmark, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Wales
Betfred - www.betfred.com - England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
bwin - www.bwin.com - Worldwide
FDJ - www.fdj-gaming-solutions.com - France
Fonbet - www.fonbet.com - Armenia, Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Russian federation, Ukraine
Fortuna - www.fortunagroup.eu - Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
Legolasbet - www.legolas.bet - Sweden
Ligastavok - www.ligastavok.ru/ - Russia
Marathonbet - www.betmarathon.com - Belarus, Russian federation, Spain, Ukraine
Nike - www.nike.sk - Slovakia
Olimp - www.betolimp.com - Kazakhstan, Russian federation
Paddy Power - www.paddypower.com/ - England, Ireland, Northern ireland, Scotland, Wales
Stoiximan - www.stoiximan.gr - Cyprus, Greece, Romania
Supabets - www.supabets.com.gh - Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa
Superbet - www.superbet.ro/ - Romania, Poland
Tempobet - www.tempobet.org - Europe
Totogaming - www.totogaming.am/en/ - Armenia
Tipsport - www.tipsport.cz - Czech Republic & Slovakia
Unibet - www.unibet.com - Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom
William Hill - www.williamhill.com - Great Britain, Ireland, Spain
Winlinebet - www.winlinebet.ru - Russia
World Sports Betting - www.worldsportsbetting.co.za - Namibia, South Africa