COREY CADBY enjoyed a dream European Tour debut on Day One of the Czech Darts Open in Prague on Friday.
The ninth European Tour event of 2019, and the PDC's first ever tournament staged in the Czech Republic, saw 32 players in action on the opening day at the PVA Expo.
Rising Australian star Cadby, who was starring in a European Tour event for the first time since returning to the PDC ProTour earlier this year, got off to a perfect start on the big stage with a 6-0 demolition of Wessel Nijman.
"I've been the underdog for a while but I'm thankful to be playing here in front of this amazing crowd," said Cadby, who will face Michael Smith in Saturday's second round.
"I can't wait to get back out here tomorrow against Michael. I've beaten him on the two occasions we've met previously and I'm ready for a third."
Friday's first round of the £140,000 tournament saw 32 qualifiers competing, 11 of whom harboured hopes of forcing their way into qualifying positions for the Betfred World Matchplay ahead of Sunday's qualification cut-off.
Keegan Brown took a huge step towards a third Winter Gardens appearance with a 6-0 whitewash of Czech Qualifier Ondrej Plsek; a result which ended Kyle Anderson's hopes of making it to Blackpool.
World Cup finalist William O'Connor must reach the semi-finals if he is to snatch a World Matchplay place, and he too got off to the best possible start with a 6-0 success over another Host Nation Qualifier Vaclav Shieferdecker.
Dutchman Ron Meulenkamp is tasked with reaching the semi-finals and he also kept his hopes alive with a 6-2 success over Czech debutant Jan Hlavacek.
Jamie Hughes, Ted Evetts and Justin Pipe are all required to land the £25,000 top prize if they are to qualify for the biggest even of the summer and the trio recorded victories over Devon Petersen, Krzysztof Ratajski and Madars Razma respectively.
World Cup star Karel Sedlacek was the sole Czech representative to make it through to round two with a gripping 6-5 success over Brendan Dolan, ending the Northern Irishman's World Matchplay hopes in the process.
Robert Thornton, Rowby-John Rodriguez and Razma were the other three players to see their feint Blackpool hopes extinguished with defeats at the hands of Stephen Bunting, Andrew Gilding and Pipe respectively.
A winner of two ProTour titles in his debut PDC campaign, Glen Durrant is already assured of his World Matchplay debut and he produced an outstanding 110.12 average in his 6-1 win over Daniel Larsson to set up a meeting with Gerwyn Price.
Elsewhere, Danish Darts Open finalist Chris Dobey got his campaign off to a 6-2 winning start over Poland's Sebastian Steyer, while Dutch pair Jermaine Wattimena and Danny Noppert were victorious over Kevin Garcia and Stefan Bellmont.
Saturday's second day of the Czech Darts Open will be broadcast on video.pdc.tv, and through a series of bookmakers' websites listed below.
2019 Czech Darts Open
Friday June 28
First Round
Afternoon Session
Danny Noppert 6-2 Stefan Bellmont
Justin Pipe 6-4 Madars Razma
Jermaine Wattimena 6-0 Kevin Garcia
Karel Sedlacek 6-5 Brendan Dolan
Corey Cadby 6-0 Wessel Nijman
John Henderson 6-3 William Borland
Keegan Brown 6-0 Ondrej Plsek
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Evening Session
Glen Durrant 6-1 Daniel Larsson
Mervyn King 6-5 Steve West
William O'Connor 6-0 Vaclav Shieferdecker
Ted Evetts 6-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
Chris Dobey 6-2 Sebastian Steyer
Ron Meulenkamp 6-2 Jan Hlavacek
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Robert Thornton
Jamie Hughes 6-4 Devon Petersen
Saturday June 29
Second Round
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Jonny Clayton v Jermaine Wattimena
Darren Webster v Danny Noppert
Simon Whitlock v Justin Pipe
Nathan Aspinall v Andrew Gilding
Daryl Gurney v William O'Connor
Ian White v Karel Sedlacek
Steve Beaton v Ron Meulenkamp
James Wade v Mervyn King
Evening Session (1915 local time, 1815 BST)
Ricky Evans v Ted Evetts
Joe Cullen v Chris Dobey
Peter Wright v Stephen Bunting
Michael van Gerwen v Keegan Brown
Mensur Suljovic v John Henderson
Gerwyn Price v Glen Durrant
Adrian Lewis v Jamie Hughes
Michael Smith v Corey Cadby
Sunday June 30
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Third Round
Van Gerwen/Brown v Webster/Noppert
Suljovic/Henderson v Evans/Evetts
Wright/Bunting v Cullen/Dobey
Gurney/O'Connor v Clayton/Wattimena
White/Sedlacek v Aspinall/Gilding
Lewis/Hughes v Beaton/Meulenkamp
Wade/King v Smith/Cadby
Price/Durrant v Whitlock/Pipe
Evening Session (1915 local time, 1815 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
Sunday’s games played in Draw Bracket order
Format
All games up to and including the quarter-finals are the best of 11 legs, with the semi-finals the best of 13 legs and the final the best of 15 legs.
Watch Online
PDC European Tour events can be watched online through PDCTV-HD for all subscribers worldwide.
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