Daryl Gurney and Ritchie Edhouse produce whitewashes to reach second round at European Darts Open

Ritchie Edhouse, Jeffrey de Graaf, Andy Baetens and Daryl Gurney are the next four names to secure a spot in the last 32 at the European Darts Open.

De Graaf recorded a 6-4 victory over former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding in the first round. An important moment in the match was the third leg, in which both players missed a lot of darts to win the leg. Gilding missed seven chances to keep his own leg, then De Graaf broke him with his eighth break chance for a 21-darter. A 17-darter then put him up 3-1.

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Through a 15-darter and a 17-darter, the Dutch Swede then bumped ahead to a 5-2 lead. Gilding then threw out 167 to reduce the deficit to 5-3, and also came back to 5-4. De Graaf then decided the match with a 13-darter to force a duel against Chris Dobey in the last 32.

Baetens was too strong for Nathan Rafferty in an exciting match. Baetens had himself to blame for the tension, as he gave away a 4-1 lead. Rafferty won four legs in a row and turned the 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead.

The Belgian recovered by forcing a deciding leg with a 13-darter. Baetens got to start the final leg and finally struck with his fifth matchdart for a spot in the second round.

Edhouse and Gurney did not have to put in an excessive effort to reach the next round and both did not concede a single leg. Edhouse won 6-0 over Jan Dueckers, averaging 84.28. However, the Englishman did provide a bright spot in the fourth leg by notching a 10-darter after two 180 scores earlier in that leg. Gurney also needed just six legs to brush aside Marko Kantele. 'Superchin' threw an average of 89 and a checkout percentage of 40 percent.