Raymond van Barneveld produced the performance of Friday’s opening day at the inaugural Swiss Darts Trophy, as Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall and James Wade also moved through to round two.
The PDC European Tour’s first visit to Switzerland began with a bumper day of first round action at the St. Jakobshalle, and it was Van Barneveld who set the standard in Basel.
The Dutch veteran opened his campaign with a resounding 6-2 success against Joe Cullen, reeling off four consecutive legs to triumph with an impressive 102.47 average.
“Last week I averaged 113 against Wessel Nijman on the ProTour, so I knew the game was there,” reflected Van Barneveld, who sealed his progress with a sublime ten-darter.
“I was lucky that Joe missed some crucial doubles in the sixth leg, but I am really happy with the win, because it’s tight on the rankings for the European Championship, and I want to be there!”
World number two Smith rounded off Friday’s action with a dramatic 6-5 victory against Ian White, overturning 3-0 and 4-2 deficits to begin his bid for a first European Tour title of 2024.
White converted 130, 103 and 107 finishes on his first big stage appearance since April, before Smith overcame his woes on the outer ring to secure a much-needed victory.
Elsewhere, Richard Veenstra survived a late scare in squeezing past two-time World Champion Peter Wright, who missed three darts to force a last-leg shoot-out, having trailed 5-0 at one stage.
Wright was one of several high-profile casualties on Friday evening, with Dimitri Van den Bergh and Jonny Clayton also crashing out at the first hurdle.
Van den Bergh was beaten 6-3 by ten-time TV title winner Wade, who recovered from a subdued start to condemn the Belgian to another early exit on the European Tour.
Cameron Menzies joined Wade in round two after defeating Clayton by the same scoreline, defying a brace of ton-plus finishes from the Welshman to set up a tie with fifth seed Danny Noppert.
There was double delight for Bruno Stöckli and Roger Hertig at the St. Jakobshalle, as the Swiss duo marked their European Tour debuts with victories over Krzysztof Ratajski and Ryan Meikle.
Swiss World Cup star Stöckli stunned an out-of-sorts Ratajski to book a second round showdown against Luke Littler, while Hertig edged out Ryan Meikle in a gruelling last-leg affair.
However, Marcel Walpen and Alex Fehlmann were unable to complete a clean sweep for the Host Nation Qualifiers, succumbing to Aspinall and Madars Razma respectively.
Aspinall converted six of his eight attempts at double – including a match-winning 127 checkout – to advance to Saturday’s second round, where top seed Dave Chisnall awaits.
Razma, meanwhile, fended off a mid-game fightback from Fehlmann to run out a 6-3 winner, following up a sensational 167 outshot with an unorthodox 112 to wrap up proceedings.
Wessel Nijman breezed through to round two with a whitewash win over an injury-hit Luke Woodhouse, leaving his opponent’s hopes of World Grand Prix qualification hanging in the balance.
Woodhouse occupies the final provisional qualification place ahead of Andrew Gilding, who kicked off his challenge with a six-leg demolition of Hungarian newcomer Nandor Pres.
However, Dirk van Duijvenbode’s hopes of qualification were ended by Sweden’s Anton Östlund, who delivered a doubling masterclass and landed four maximums to defeat the Dutchman 6-2.
Jermaine Wattimena preserved his slender World Grand Prix hopes with a battling 6-4 win against Ritchie Edhouse, while Callan Rydz ran out a convincing 6-1 winner against Brendan Dolan.
Earlier in the day, a clinical Karel Sedlacek pinned 66% of his attempts at double to sink Jim Williams, while Mike De Decker – aided by five 180s – reeled off six straight legs to sweep aside Graham Hall 6-2.
The second round will take place across two sessions on Saturday, with world number one Luke Humphries and teenage superstar Littler amongst the star attractions on Day Two in Basel.
Live coverage of the Swiss Darts Trophy will be streamed through Viaplay, and through DAZN for viewers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Coverage will also be shown on PDCTV (excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and through bookmakers' worldwide.
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2024 Swiss Darts Trophy
Friday September 27
First Round
Afternoon Session
Karel Sedlacek 6-4 Jim Williams
Wessel Nijman 6-0 Luke Woodhouse
Bruno Stöckli 6-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
Mike De Decker 6-2 Graham Hall
Madars Razma 6-3 Alex Fehlmann
Andrew Gilding 6-0 Nandor Pres
Roger Hertig 6-5 Ryan Meikle
Callan Rydz 6-1 Brendan Dolan
Evening Session
Jermaine Wattimena 6-4 Ritchie Edhouse
Anton Östlund 6-2 Dirk van Duijvenbode
James Wade 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Raymond van Barneveld 6-2 Joe Cullen
Cameron Menzies 6-3 Jonny Clayton
Richard Veenstra 6-4 Peter Wright
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Marcel Walpen
Michael Smith 6-5 Ian White
Saturday September 28
Second Round
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Gian van Veen v Callan Rydz
Ryan Searle v Roger Hertig
Rob Cross v Andrew Gilding
Josh Rock v Jermaine Wattimena
Damon Heta v Madars Razma
Ross Smith v Mike De Decker
Daryl Gurney v Karel Sedlacek
Danny Noppert v Cameron Menzies
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Martin Schindler v Anton Östlund
Stephen Bunting v Michael Smith
Gerwyn Price v James Wade
Luke Humphries v Richard Veenstra
Luke Littler v Bruno Stöckli
Ricardo Pietreczko v Raymond van Barneveld
Dave Chisnall v Nathan Aspinall
Chris Dobey v Wessel Nijman