Florian Hempel, Max Hopp and Nico Kurz were among the 16 players to progress to the next phase of the 2022 Interwetten PDC Europe Super League on Tuesday.
The PDC Europe Super League – taking place at the H+ Hotel in Niedernhausen – features 24 of Germany's top stars battling it out for a place in the 2022/23 Cazoo World Darts Championship.
Following Monday’s opening day, the initial round-robin phase concluded on Tuesday, with the top four players from Groups A-D advancing to the last 16, while the bottom two players were eliminated from the competition.
Hempel, who defeated Dimitri Van den Bergh on his World Championship bow 12 months ago, continued his bid to seal an immediate Alexandra Palace return by winning all ten of his Group A ties across the two days.
The 32-year-old was a runner-up to Martin Schindler in last year’s event, and he continued his domination with a series of sparkling displays top the group ahead of Franz Rötzsch in second.
David Schlichting - a European Tour qualifier in 2022 - also impressed on his Super League debut to finish third in Group A, with Development Tour star Marcel Gerdon wrapping up the fourth and final qualification spot.
Recent Players Championship semi-finalist Ricardo Pietreczko continued his good form to top Group B, claiming maximum points on Tuesday to finish ahead of 2021 semi-finalist Dragutin Horvat.
Horvat, who landed a spectacular nine-darter on Monday, won four of his five matches on Day Two to qualify alongside Kai Gotthardt and Marco Obst.
Elsewhere, Daniel Klose maintained his impeccable Group C record with another clean sweep on Tuesday, edging out Hopp in a last-leg decider before overcoming Kurz in clinical fashion.
Former World Cup semi-finalist Hopp - also a European Tour event winner - resurrected his campaign with a series of spirited displays on Tuesday, claiming three wins from his five matches to progress in third place.
Meanwhile, 2020 champion Kurz claimed second position in Group C to maintain his hopes of a second PDC Europe Super League crown, with Michael Hurtz edging through in fourth.
In Group D, Niko Springer came through deciding-leg tussles against Lukas Wenig and Rene Eidams to preserve his perfect record, while Wenig boasted the highest tournament average in this year's group stage to ease through in second place.
The pair will be joined in the next round-robin phase by 2018 World Series of Darts participant Manfred Bilderl and former World Championship qualifier Eidams, who won three of his final five games to keep his Super League hopes alive.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the 16 remaining players will be drawn into two groups of eight in the same round-robin format, with all players playing each other twice before the top four players in each group progress to the quarter-finals.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will then be played on Friday November 11, as the race to Ally Pally reaches a thrilling finale.
PDC Europe Super League - Group Stage One Results
2022 Interwetten PDC Europe Super League
Last 16 Qualifiers [In Group Order]
Florian Hempel (A)
Franz Rötzsch (A)
David Schlichting (A)
Marcel Gerdon (A)
Ricardo Pietreczko (B)
Dragutin Horvat (B)
Kai Gotthardt (B)
Marco Obst (B)
Daniel Klose (C)
Nico Kurz (C)
Max Hopp (C)
Michael Hurtz (C)
Niko Springer (D)
Lukas Wenig (D)
Manfred Bilderl (D)
Rene Eidams (D)
Wednesday November 9 (1230 local time)
28x Second Round per group (two groups of eight players)
Best of 11 Legs
Thursday November 10 (1230 local time)
28x Second Round per group (two groups of eight players)
Best of 11 Legs
Friday November 11 (1450 local time)
Quarter-Finals
Best of 13 Legs
Semi finals
Best of 15 Legs
Final
Best of 19 Legs