Dutch favourite Michael van Gerwen suffered a shock second-round exit at the Dutch Darts Championship on Saturday, losing 6-5 to Irishman William O'Connor. The defeat extends Van Gerwen's poor run of form, having lost his opening match at four European Tour events this season before arriving in Maastricht: the European Darts Trophy, German Darts Grand Prix, Flanders Darts Trophy and Swiss Darts Trophy. It marks his most first-round exits in a single season since the tour began in 2012.
O'Connor produced a superb display, firing in three ton-plus checkouts of 136, 131 and 121 to seal his victory and book his place in round three. Elsewhere on Saturday, Gerwyn Price's return to the stage ended in glory as he beat Scott Williams 6-3, while Gian van Veen broke the European Tour record average. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Martin Schindler and Stephen Bunting also jumped into the qualification spots for Dortmund.
Van Veen averaged a staggering 120.24 in whitewashing Sebastian Bialecki, breaking the previous record of 118.66 by Dave Chisnall. Schindler sealed his spot at the European Championships later this month with his victory over Karel Sedlacek. Bunting left it late to secure his place at the European Championship, beating already-qualified Cameron Menzies 6-2 to book his spot.
The former Masters champion needed a strong finish to get over the line. The 41-year-old pinned six out of ten attempts at the outer ring in his victory over the Scot, and jumped into the qualifying places, knocking Kim Huybrechts out of the running. Brendan Dolan remains the only player capable of pushing Sedlacek out of the European Championship qualifying spots after beating Heine Uuldriks 6-4.
The Northern Irishman had led 4-1 before being pegged back. Nathan Aspinall ended Michael Smith's hopes of qualifying for Dortmund with a dominant 6-1 victory. The World Grand Prix semi-finalist averaged over 102 to dispatch the former world champion.
Wessel Nijman and Danny Noppert also secured their places in Sunday's action, with the Dutch pair defeating Jeffrey De Graaf and Dave Chisnall respectively. Niels Zonneveld edged a last-leg decider against Krzysztof Ratajski, hitting seven maximums for the second consecutive match to book his place in round three. Fellow Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena also progressed, beating Host Nation Qualifier Jimmy van Schie 6-2.
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