Austrian Darts Open Friday afternoon Round-Up: Doets and Zonneveld standout as Gilding, Springer, Ratajski and O'Connor struggle through

Day One of the Austrian Darts Open has begun with the opening round on Friday afternoon. Niko Springer, Niels Zonneveld, Andrew Gilding were among those in action.

To start the session, Ryan Joyce overcame Gabriel Clemens 6-3. Both have faced off a lot recently and as Joyce himself admitted to DartsNews afterwards, they are very much two players not in the best of places with their game right now.

But Joyce managed to win through 6-3. He hit double 18 to go 2-1 up. A 70 checkout for Clemens to make it 2-2 as he sealed a hold. Clemens drew level with a 48 checkout for 3-3 but a hod on double 18 for Joyce made it 4-3. He was two away but neither had a break at that point at the Austrian Darts Open.

But he pinned double 16 to change that to win through. He now faces Mike de Decker. Patrick Kovacs now faces Josh Rock as the woes for a certain Ricardo Pietreczko were very much all there to see. He has had issues with dartitis in the past week or so averaging less than 60 on the ProTour and withdrawing mid match.

To see a former European Tour winner like that struggle so much is a bit heartbreaking but Kovacs who has struggled for wins in the past also struggled presumably due to both not really being at the races. Pietreczko led 2-1 and 4-3 but Kovacs won three on the spin to seal it.

Niels Zonneveld was one of the lead attractions and he saw off James Hurrell. He has been in exceptional form as of late but in 'Hillbilly' given his form over the past 18 months, it is still a very tough tie.

Zonneveld led 2-0 early pinning double 10 after breaking with a 48 checkout. Pinning 56, Hillbilly was on the board with a hold as Zonneveld tries to go 3-1 up. An 80 checkout for Zonneveld saw him go 3-1 up. He missed 170 for a break but missed two more darts at double 12. Hurrell back for 3-2 hitting two double 20's for a 100 checkout.

A break followed for Hurrell who hit 62 for 3-3. Zonneveld had broken back though hitting double five for 4-3. Zonneveld though missed two darts to go one away and Hurrell hit 102 to make it 4-4. A hold saw him go all the way but Zonneveld forced a decider and he hit a 135 to win it.

Andrew Gilding is also through despite struggling against Nick Zwittnigg. He averaged just 80 but is through to face Jermaine Wattimena tomorrow. William O'Connor also averted a bit of a tough examination against Anton Ostlund.

O'Connor broke with a 77 checkout to make it 3-1 but Ostlund stayed on his tail and broke again for 3-2. He made it 4-2 and was throwing to go one away. Ostlund missed the chance to break back but after O'Connor couldn't finish the tie off, the Swede went 5-3 down.

But O'Connor finally got over the line. Krzysztof Ratajski too also moved through seeing off Aaron Hardy. A bit of a slog against a super methodical player. But he managed to go 4-3 up and then sealed it from there 6-3 and now faces Michael van Gerwen.

Niko Springer also brought out some of his best at times but also wasn't fully at the races yet as he saw off Nick Kenny. Double six for Kenny led 2-1 early on but a 126 checkout on double six for Springer to break back and he was throwing for 3-2. Springer held with a 116 checkout to go 4-3 up then hit a 167 and double eight for the win.

Finally Kevin Doets continued his fantastic form as of late. He saw off fellow Dutchman Chris Landman with the performance of the session averaging 99.

He went 2-0 up early and pinned 42 on double sixteen to go 4-1 up. A 13, 16 and 14 to go 3-1 up originally. It was a 5-1 lead for Doets as he broke again but Landman pinned double 20 with Doets unable to get 126. A 54 checkout to hold for Landman and Doets hit 41 on double 16 to claim a 6-2 win.