After Lukas Wenig and Dragutin Horvat won through in the
afternoon session, there has been more Host Nation winners on the opening night
of the
German Darts Championship.
Max Hopp,
Gabriel Clemens
and
Nico Kurz, three of Germany’s top players all claimed victories to delight
the crowd in Halle 39.
Clemens began and despite
not producing his best, he eased to a 6-1 win over Steve West with his doubling
proving pivotal. The latter only hit 1/5 while ‘The German Giant’ finished on
46% (6/13). This was despite only an average of 89.
Kurz had it a bit more
difficult with the top German prospect reeling off five consecutive legs from 4-1
down to defeat Jason Lowe 6-4 with 75% on the doubles in a high quality affair.
The former averaged 97.5 while in defeat, Lowe was at 100 with two 180’s.
Hopp concluded the trio of
wins with the former World Youth Champion and
European Tour winner delighting
the crowd with a 6-2 win with four 180’s en route against Reece Robinson. It
was a high checkout of 118 for ‘The Maximiser’ who now has Ian White next up.
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Danny Noppert (102.57) 6-2 (92.89) Josh Payne
Steve Brown (86.08) 3-6 (91.05) Adam Hunt
Steve West (86.02) 1-6 (89.56) Gabriel Clemens
Jason Lowe (100.15) 4-6 (97.57) Nico Kurz
Reece Robinson (88.3) 2-6 (94.86) Max Hopp
Jeffrey de Zwaan v Devon Petersen
Chris Dobey v Ryan Murray
Michael Smith v Alan Tabern