With the Sunday evening session of the
German Darts Grand Prix getting underway in Munich,
Chris Dobey and
Danny Noppert were the first men to secure passage to the third round thanks to victories over
Dimitri Van den Bergh and Liam Maendl-Lawrence.
It was an all Premier League encounter to get us underway as Chris Dobey took on 15th seed Dimitri Van den Bergh. Having only met the once so far this season in the Premier League where Van den Bergh came out on top, Dobey was keen to put things right, taking the opening leg with a comfortable hold.
Van den Bergh though quickly came powering back, holding throw in the second leg before seemingly having the third wrapped up. Three clear darts were missed at double 18 by the Belgian though, which allowed Dobey to pin tops for a 56 checkout and hold throw. Hollywood then fired in a sumptuous 142 on double 11 to go 3-1 ahead.
With Van den Bergh slipping into the single one when aiming for tops, Dobey was on hand yet again to punish and stretch his lead to three legs. A much needed hold of throw kept Van den Bergh in touch at 4-2 but with the Belgian unable to break throw in the seventh leg, Dobey moved one away from a place in the third round, something he subsequently secured at the first time of asking with a stunning 121 finished on the bull.
Hometown hero Liam Maendl-Lawrence was up against the former UK Open champion Danny Noppert in the second match of the session and the crowd were making their feelings known early as the Freeze entered to a chorus of pantomime boos.
The measured, methodical Maendl-Lawrence, who was in the crowd this time twelve months ago dressed as the Easter Bunny, took the opening leg, pinning double 8 to go one up. After Noppert missed a handful of darts at double 8, the German had a chance to take out 60 for the break but couldn't take it, with Noppie returning to pick up the scraps and level at 1-1. Double 8 again was the magic double for the Dutchman in leg 3 as he broke throw to lead.
A old of throw for Noppert saw him pick up a third straight leg but Maendl-Lawrence stopped the rot in the following leg with a classy 100 checkout. Noppert then held to move back to two in front before the hometown boy delighted the crowd, pinning tops to stay in touch before finishing off a brilliant 85 on the bull to level things up.
A 13-dart hold followed and suddenly Maendl-Lawrence was in front. The 10th seed, Noppert wasn't going down without a fight though, pinning double 8 amidst more boos and whistles to send the match all the way. In the decider the young German failed to give himself a match dart from 140 and that proved costly with Noppert nailing and ice-cool 64 to take the win.