Jose de Sousa,
Adam Smith-Neale and
Daryl Gurney are the latest three players through to Saturday's action at the 2023
European Darts Grand Prix after sealing victories to begin Friday's evening session.
De Sousa started with a dramatic deciding leg win over home hope, Nico Kurz seeing off the German 6-5 with an 87 average. But it was the drama of the piece with Kurz missing a match dart from 92 to snatch it in the end.
De Sousa then returned to pin double 10 last dart in hand from 58 to claim it 6-5 and move through.
Adam Smith-Neale was anything but scrappy with 'Big Dog' producing some superb ton-plus checkouts to deny Roman Benecky who has form for
European Tour scalps after defeating Gary Anderson earlier this season.
But Smith-Neale let out emotion as he produced the final ton plus in all which featured four with a high of 164 sealing it with a 110 checkout 6-5.
This after he initially was seemingly out of sight at 5-2 hitting a 108 checkout to go one away before the Czech ace came back but it was a sigh of relief in the end as he moved through.
As did Gurney who again faced Dylan Slevin, a stablemate with the same management team. 'Superchin' has faced 'Oceans Slevin' four times this season despite the Irishman's fledgling Tour Card status.
But again it is a win for Gurney who won five consecutive legs to record a convincing win against Slevin in an important weekend for his World Cup of Darts hopes.