Austrian Darts Open 2019 preview and schedule - Sunday afternoon session

And so, at the Austrian Darts Open 2019, we reach endgame.

The field was cut in half on Saturday. The same will happen on Sunday afternoon, with 16 competitors soon becoming eight. The Austrian Darts Open holder is gone, meaning the trophy will change hands. Among the hopefuls in Graz are nine seeds and seven non-seeds.
The quality of the latter group is shown in Michael van Gerwen's third round opponent. Stephen Bunting is a seriously tough opponent. And like Mighty Mike, he reeled off a 6-0 thrashing on Saturday. Though he's naturally the favourite, van Gerwen will be wary of the power-scoring Bunting is capable of.
Whoever wins between van Gerwen and Bunting will play the winner of the second game. Peter Wright was almost knocked out by Chris Dobey, but recovered with a timely winning checkout. Next up for him is Tytus Kanik, who ended Jonny Clayton's title defence at the first hurdle - and with a level of comfort that may worry Wright.
Third on the bill is an interesting game between two English talents who can rack up big averages. Adrian Lewis meets Nathan Aspinall for a quarter-final spot. That's followed by a resurgent Mark Webster. The Spider continues his best European Tour run in two years against Daryl Gurney who, like his opponent, won despite averaging less than his second round opponent.

Labanauskas out for Price scalp

Starting things off for the bottom half of the draw is Gerwyn Price, who completed a statistical anomaly in averaging precisely the same as vanquished opponent John Henderson. He'd surely love to match, or better Darius Labanauskas. The Lithuanian is the tournament's standout performer so far, having averaged comfortably over a ton in both of his games.
The winner of that game plays whoever comes out on top in the only all-seeded affair. Mensur Suljovic just about edged past Raymond van Barneveld. His next challenge is James Wade, who made light work of Mervyn King. Interestingly, the Austrian has won all three stage meetings with Wade in 2019.
Rob Cross came ever so close to bowing out in the second round. Instead, he lives to fight another day. Voltage's next hurdle to leap is a big one. Steve Beaton ended Michael Smith's interest in the Austrian Darts Open swiftly and stylishly. The Bronzed Adonis could well be on a roll.
Rounding off the last 16 is Ian White's clash with Keegan Brown. On a day when a number of seeds dropped out, White could easily have been among them. It took a touch of class for the Diamond to show Jamie Hughes the door. Brown's impressive European Tour season continues, making this one harder to call in practice than on paper.
Click here to check out the PDC European Tour 2019 tournament centre.

Afternoon session schedule

12:00 Michael van Gerwen v Stephen Bunting 12:30 Peter Wright v Tytus Kanik 13:00 Adrian Lewis v Nathan Aspinall 13:30 Daryl Gurney v Mark Webster 14:00 Gerwyn Price v Darius Labanauskas 14:30 Mensur Suljovic v James Wade 15:00 Rob Cross v Steve Beaton 15:30 Ian White v Keegan Brown

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