UK Open 2019 preview & schedule: Saturday afternoon session

A mind-boggling 127 matches were played, including 95 in the afternoon session alone. Among the 127 players to bow out on day one were three of the world's top four. Michael van Gerwen was the biggest scalp, claimed by Mervyn King. Gary Anderson fell at the hands of Steve Beaton. And Peter Wright departed thanks to Mensur Suljovic. Now just 32 players remain, with UK Open glory and a £100,000 top prize at stake.
Amid the furore of the first day, James Wade and Max Hopp's brilliance flew under the radar. Wade showed James Wilson the door with a 10-1 win and a 100.5 average. Hopp racked up a 102.6 average in a thrashing of Geert Nentjes. The Machine is the big favourite on the Main Stage, but Hopp looks more and more comfortable in the big time with each passing event.
Michael Smith and Daryl Gurney might be kicking themselves. The open draw is a beautiful thing, but with so many top players gone, the last thing the Premier League contenders would have wanted is to face each other so soon. For the winner though, there's the double delight of heading through and sending a massive rival packing.

Mensur Suljovic last met Dimitri van den Bergh last met at the Grand Slam of Darts, in a quarter-final that the Gentle won. He also beat the Belgian in the German Darts Masters final. Overall he has come out on top in four of their past five meetings, with the exception being a 4-0 whitewash for the Dream Maker in the 2018 PDC World Championship. Both have a lot of well-wishers, and decent form on top.
Mervyn King has already completed his big giant-killing act. Now he has to do it again. The veteran has somehow been drawn against the world number one and world number two in successive rounds. Rob Cross brushed Darren Webster aside in the fourth round. He can add another Norfolk victim here to stake a claim for a second major title.
There's plenty of interesting games on the other three boards. We will surely see fireworks when Jamie Hughes takes on Gerwyn Price. Krzysztof Ratajski versus Jonny Clayton is a real battle of dark horses over on Stage Three. And there's Irish pride at stake when Mickey Mansell meets Steve Lennon.
Soon enough, 32 will be whittled down to 16. The sixth round draw follows the culmination of the afternoon ties, with games played on Saturday evening. Unless you're Nostradamus, or that fella who predicted that Leeds would lose 1-0 to QPR and beat West Brom 4-0, there's no way of knowing what is about to go down.

James Wade v Max Hopp
Michael Smith v Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Mervyn King v Rob Cross

Madars Razma v Nathan Aspinall
Simon Whitlock v Gabriel Clemens
Jamie Lewis v Josh Payne
Jamie Hughes v Gerwyn Price

Steve Beaton v Keegan Brown
Krzysztof Ratajski v Jonny Clayton
Simon Stevenson v Kim Huybrechts
Jermaine Wattimena v Luke Woodhouse

Mickey Mansell v Steve Lennon
Dave Chisnall v Martin Schindler
Ross Smith v Steve West
Richard North v Cristo Reyes