MICHAEL VAN GERWEN'S winning streak continued as he swept past Germany's Andree Welge in the first round of the European Darts Open on Friday night, with Phil Taylor, James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld bouncing back to winning ways.
The Dutch ace claimed the biggest triumph of his career on Thursday by taking glory in the McCoy's Premier League Darts, but began his bid to win the £20,000 PDC European Tour event in Dusseldorf 24 hours later.
Welge actually took the lead in their first round clash at the Maritim Hotel, winning the opening leg with a 13-darter, but van Gerwen replied with legs of 14 and 13 darts to move 2-1 up.
The world number two then claimed the next four legs without reply as he set up a second round clash on Saturday night with former European Championship finalist Wayne Jones.
"I'm pleased to win this because I've probably only had an hour or two of sleep!" joked van Gerwen, who flew to Dusseldorf on Friday afternoon alongside his Premier League Play-Off rivals.
"My confidence is so high at the moment and I love playing darts, so hopefully I can go on now and have a good weekend too."
Taylor had seen his hopes of winning a seventh Premier League crown ended by a 10-8 defeat to van Gerwen 24 hours earlier, but showed no ill-effects at the Maritim Hotel by racing past Clark.
The Manchester-based thrower shared the opening two legs with Taylor, but the World Champion took out 104 as he moved 3-1 up before punishing three missed doubles from his opponent to hit double eight for a three-leg lead.
Taylor added another double eight finish before sealing the victory on double six, setting up a second round clash in the £100,000 European Tour event with Mervyn King on Saturday.
"My feet were tired after Thursday night but I'm pleased to get through that," said Taylor. "I can get prepared now to play Mervyn in the second round and I'll look forward to it."
World number four James Wade dropped only two legs as he put his Premier League semi-final defeat behind him with a clinical win over Germany's Jyhan Artut, and Raymond van Barneveld - the winner of last year's European Darts Open - sneaked past young prospect Adam Hunt 6-5.
With teenager Max Hopp being edged out in a deciding leg by Justin Pipe earlier in the night, Simon Whitlock's later 6-1 win over Tomas Seyler meant that German hopes in the event were ended on the opening day in Dusseldorf.
Adrian Lewis, the world number three, also dropped just one leg in his win over Scotland's Keith Stephen, and he now plays Richie Burnett after the Welshman won the battle of former World Champions with Steve Beaton, edging to a 6-5 triumph.
Robert Thornton produced a stunning comeback from 5-0 down to win his first round clash with Kurt Van De Rijck 6-5, with the Belgian punishing a string of missed doubles from the UK Open champion as he took command only to miss six match darts as the Scot clawed his way back.
Andy Hamilton also came from behind to claim a 6-5 win from his clash with Austria's Mensur Suljovic, although he trailed just 2-0 before pulling through to book his second round spot against Bristol's Andy Parsons, a European Tour debutant who himself hit back from 5-2 down to defeat Colin Lloyd 6-5.
Wes Newton and Colin Osborne will meet in the second round following their victories over Mareno Michels and Terry Temple respectively, while former World Youth Champion Arron Monk sneaked past Kevin McDine in a deciding leg to set up a clash with Whitlock.
Paul Nicholson's reward for a strong performance as he defeated Stephen Hardy is a game against Wade in round two, while Kevin Painter takes on van Barneveld after hitting seven 180s in a superb 6-3 win over David Pallett.
Kim Huybrechts landed four maximums and a 170 checkout as he overcame Steve Maish 6-1, and he now plays March's UK Masters runner-up Stuart Kellett, who took a 6-4 win over Dennis Smith.
Huybrechts' older brother Ronny, though, was knocked out in round one as he went down 6-2 to Peter Wright, who now plays Mark Webster after the left-hander saw off Darren Johnson 6-1.
UK Masters winner John Part saw off Jerry Hendriks 6-1 as he set up a second round game with Brendan Dolan, who edged past Jelle Klaasen 6-5 by finishing 125 with a bullseye, outer bull, bullseye combination in the deciding leg of their game after the Dutchman had hit a 180 to leave a double.
Dave Chisnall, last year's European Darts Open runner-up, defeated youngster Chris Aubrey 6-1 and now faces Jamie Caven, who was a 6-3 winner against qualifier Paul Amos.
Terry Jenkins' 6-2 win over Mark Jones sets him up for a second round meeting with Ronnie Baxter, who came from 2-0 down to defeat Austrian World Cup ace Maik Langendorf 6-2 in a game which took just 15 minutes.
Gary Anderson wasted little time in seeing off youngster Shaun Griffiths, with the Scot now lining up against Ian White in the second round, after the Stoke ace knocked out Kevin Dowling.
Experienced Alex Roy and Swindon's Mark Cox both caused upsets by knocking out seeds Mark Walsh and Andy Smith, while Wayne Jones booked his last 32 place with a win over Dutch qualifier Bobby Biemans.
The European Darts Open's second round will be split across two sessions (1pm & 7pm local time) on Saturday, with coverage streamed exclusively live through www.LIVEPDC.TV.
The third round will be held on Saturday afternoon, before the tournament concludes with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final on Sunday night.
All LIVEPDC.TV Subscribers worldwide can watch exclusive live coverage in www.LIVEPDC.TV from the event.
Live Scores can also be followed by visiting the PDC Live Scores Website.
Join The Conversation during the European Darts Open by using the #EuroDartsOpen Hashtag on Twitter & follow the OfficialPDC Twitter and Facebook pages.
European Darts Open - European Tour Event Three
Friday May 17
First Round
Afternoon Session
Main Stage
Dave Chisnall 6-1 Chris Aubrey
Wes Newton 6-3 Mareno Michels
Kim Huybrechts 6-1 Steve Maish
Paul Nicholson 6-1 Stephen Hardy
Terry Jenkins 6-2 Mark Jones
Gary Anderson 6-1 Shaun Griffiths
Mervyn King 6-5 Prakash Jiwa
Kevin Painter 6-3 David Pallett
Stage Two
Wayne Jones 6-1 Bobby Biemans
Ian White 6-2 Kevin Dowling
Brendan Dolan 6-5 Jelle Klaasen
Mark Webster 6-1 Darren Johnson
Colin Lloyd 5-6 Andy Parsons
Andy Smith 2-6 Mark Cox
John Part 6-1 Jerry Hendriks
Jamie Caven 6-3 Paul Amos
Evening Session
Main Stage
Robert Thornton 6-5 Kurt Van De Rijck
Andy Hamilton 6-5 Mensur Suljovic
Adrian Lewis 6-1 Keith Stephen
Justin Pipe 6-5 Max Hopp
Richie Burnett 6-5 Steve Beaton
Phil Taylor 6-1 Matt Clark
James Wade 6-2 Jyhan Artut
Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Andree Welge
Simon Whitlock 6-1 Tomas Seyler
Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Adam Hunt
Stage Two
Arron Monk 6-5 Kevin McDine
Mark Walsh 2-6 Alex Roy
Peter Wright 6-2 Ronny Huybrechts
Colin Osborne 6-4 Terry Temple
Ronnie Baxter 6-2 Maik Langendorf
Stuart Kellett 6-4 Dennis Smith