CHRIS DOBEY squeezed through in the best game of the opening day of the 2019 Austrian Darts Open in Graz, as he beat Andrew Gilding 6-5 in a thriller.
Trailing 5-3, the 28-year-old broke throw twice as he strung together three legs and capitalised on costly misses from Gilding to sneak over the line and set up a second round clash with Peter Wright at the Premstättner Halle.
Raymond van Barneveld will be looking for another strong run on the European Tour - following last week's run to the third round - and is over the first hurdle as he eased past Mark Wilson 6-1.
The five-time World Champion will face tough opposition on Saturday evening, however, as he faces home favourite Mensur Suljovic - who will be full of confidence following his Unibet Premier League victory in Manchester on Thursday.
Last weekend's nine-dart hero on the European Tour in Saarbrucken, Steve Beaton, wasn't at his rampant best this time around, but still progressed comfortably to the second round as he saw off Mark Barilli 6-3.
Another man in good form heading into this competition is Jeffrey de Zwaan, following on from his Players Championship triumph on Wednesday.
He progressed comfortably against Austrian opposition, beating debutant Benjamin Fasching 6-1.
There was more disappointment for the home crowd earlier in the evening, as Patrick Tringler crashed out to Jamie Hughes 6-3 in a low-key affair on the doubles.
Elsewhere, there were victories for UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall and Ryan Searle, as they saw off Belgium's Kim Huybrechts and Brazil's Diogo Portela 6-2 and 6-1 respectively.
The performance of the opening day came from Darius Labanauskas as he averaged 103.98 - the highest of the day - as he breezed past Host Nation Qualifier Michael Rasztovits.
With three 180s to his name, and nearly 43% on the doubles, the Lithuanian is looking in good touch ahead of his second round clash in Saturday's opening game against Ricky Evans.
Steve Lennon also produced a thumping win as he eased past Jamie Bain 6-1 in the third game of the day.
He now faces a huge test in the last 32 as he clashes with world number one Michael van Gerwen, who is on the hunt for a third successive European Tour title, and a fourth of 2019.
Keegan Brown, who has enjoyed some strong runs on the European Tour thus far in 2019, fired an incredible eight 180s in his 6-4 victory over Conan Whitehead.
It was a good start to the weekend for John Henderson, who turns 46 on Saturday, as he booked his second round spot with a 6-4 win over Ross Smith.
Mark Webster returned back to winning ways on the European Tour with a thumping 6-1 win over Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode, and will now face Joe Cullen on Saturday.
Elsewhere, there was a good win for Poland's Tytus Kanik as he saw off Dietmar Burger 6-2, whilst Stephen Bunting squeezed past Patrick van den Boogard 6-4, and Russia's Boris Koltsov eked through 6-5 against Johan Engstrom.
Kanik will now face reigning champion Jonny Clayton in the second round, which will be held on Saturday across two sessions as the 16 seeded players enter the action.
The 2019 Austrian Darts Open continues on Saturday with Day Two at the Premstättner Halle.
The Austrian Darts Open will take place from May 3-5, with streaming shown on video.pdc.tv, as well as through a series of bookmakers' websites listed below
2019 Austrian Darts Open
Friday May 3
First Round
Afternoon Session
Keegan Brown 6-4 Conan Whitehead
Boris Koltsov 6-5 Johan Engstrøm
Steve Lennon 6-1 Jamie Bain
Tytus Kanik 6-2 Dietmar Burger
Stephen Bunting 6-4 Patrick van den Boogaard
John Henderson 6-4 Ross Smith
Darius Labanauskas 6-1 Michael Rasztovits
Mark Webster 6-1 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Evening Session
Steve Beaton 6-3 Mark Barilli
Chris Dobey 6-5 Andrew Gilding
Ryan Searle 6-1 Diogo Portela
Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Kim Huybrechts
Jamie Hughes 6-3 Patrick Tringler
Raymond van Barneveld 6-1 Mark Wilson
Mervyn King 6-4 Devon Petersen
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-1 Benjamin Fasching
Saturday May 4
Second Round
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Ricky Evans v Darius Labanauskas
Joe Cullen v Mark Webster
Michael Smith v Steve Beaton
Daryl Gurney v Boris Koltsov
Dave Chisnall v Nathan Aspinall
Jonny Clayton v Tytus Kanik
Adrian Lewis v Ryan Searle
Darren Webster v Stephen Bunting
Evening Session (1915 local time, 1815 BST)
Gerwyn Price v John Henderson
Rob Cross v Jeffrey De Zwaan
Peter Wright v Chris Dobey
Michael van Gerwen v Steve Lennon
James Wade v Mervyn King
Mensur Suljovic v Raymond Van Barneveld
Ian White v Jamie Hughes
Max Hopp v Keegan Brown
Sunday May 5
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Third Round
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.
Prize Fund
Winner: £25,000
Runner-up: £10,000
Semi-Finalists: £6,500
Quarter-Finalists: £5,000
Last 16: £3,000
Last 32: £2,000
Last 48: £1,000
Total: £140,000
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