Hughes survives a scare against Plaisier, Stevenson edges past Hempel

The first action of the evening session at the European Darts Matchplay is complete with Simon Stevenson and Jamie Hughes moving through.

'The Mirror Man' took on Host Nation Qualifier, Florian Hempel and eased through despite going behind in the early going.

He reeled off six out of the seven remaining legs to defeat the German, 6-3. He will take on Gerwyn Price who he lost out to in the Quarter-Finals of the UK Open, will it be repeat or revenge?

Hughes on the other hand had to come through a real test against Dutchman, Wesley Plaisier in a 6-5 win. He began the tie with a brilliant 167 checkout to take the lead; but was on the back foot in that leg with Plaisier on tops.

'Yozza' stretched his advantage from there but his opponent came back to lead but was taken to a deciding leg by Hughes.

He finally delivered the goods in the latter half of the tie with Hughes following up a 174 with a 85 checkout to win 6-5 and move through. Despite that though, he will know he needs to play better tomorrow having survived a real scare.

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European Darts Matchplay 2019 schedule

Day one, evening session

Florian Hempel (77.92) 3-6 (82.22) Simon Stevenson
Jamie Hughes (91.49) 6-5 (90.93) Wesley Plaisier
Keegan Brown v Simon Whitlock
Maik Kuivenhoven v Karsten Koch
Robert Thornton v Kim Huybrechts
Michael Smith v Steve Lennon
Max Hopp v William O'Connor
Jeffrey de Zwaan v Wayne Jones