Brilliant Van Barneveld charges past Cullen, Wade continues Van den Bergh's woes and Menzies takes out Clayton at Swiss Darts Trophy 2024

Raymond van Barneveld has surged into the second round at the 2024 Swiss Darts Trophy following a 6-2 victory over Joe Cullen on Friday night.

Averaging north of a ton, 102.47 to be exact, the legendary Dutchman was in full flow in Basel. Things were relatively closely fought early on though as Cullen kept pace at 2-2. A pair of 13 darters and a 10 darter helped Van Barneveld reel off the last four legs unopposed however as the five time champion of the world sealed the win and a place in round 2 on his old favorite, double 18.

A little earlier, James Wade had breezed past Dimitri Van den Bergh, whose recent woes continue with another disappointing display on the European Tour. Averaging 95.41 as opposed to Van den Bergh's 87.02, 'The Machine' surged clear from 2-2, winning five of the last six legs all told, highlighted by a brilliant 138 checkout.

Also through to round 2 in Switzerland is Cameron Menzies. In what was, on paper at least, one of the ties of the opening round, the inform Menzies faced off against experienced, multiple major winner Jonny Clayton. It was the Welshman who started stronger too, pinning a 110 checkout in the opening leg for a break of throw. Unable to fully capitalize however, Clayton then allowrd Menzies to take back control by winning the next two legs. Another ton plus checkout then levelled things for the Ferret, but Menzies reeled off 4 of the next 5 legs to secure himself the 6-3 success.

The Swiss Darts Trophy will be broadcast on PDC TV. As usual with Euro Tour tournaments, the Swiss Darts Trophy consists of three tournament days. The afternoon sessions start on Friday and Saturday at 12:00, while the evening sessions then start at 18:00. On Sunday, the sessions start at 11:00 and 17:00.

The first round will take place on Friday. The 16 Order of Merit qualifiers and the winners from the various qualifying tournaments then make their appearance. The top-16 seeded players enter the tournament on Saturday in the second round. Sunday will see the denouement of the tournament, starting with the third round in the afternoon session. Sunday evening will be followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.