Huybrechts keeps European Championship hopes alive with victory over Pipe, Beaton edges out Newell in quality contest

Kim Huybrechts, Steve Beaton and Carl Wilkinson are through to finish the afternoon session at the Gibraltar Darts Trophy.

Huybrechts saw off Justin Pipe to keep his hopes of qualifying for European Championship. He claimed a 6-3 win over 'The Force' in a highly anticipated clash between two former winners on the European Tour.

Someone on debut on the European Tour was Carl Wilkinson who safely saw off 17 year old qualifier Justin Hewitt 6-3 who was a potential banana skin due to him playing in front of his home crowd and his exploits in the recent JDC Festival of Darts. Despite that Wilkinson got through an understandably nervy affair.

Finally there was a high quality tie to finish off the session with Steve Beaton edging past Tony Newell. 'The Bronzed Adonis' averaged just under 90 and hit three 180's en route with his scoring the difference, this was shown with 5/11 on doubles from Newell compared to 6/23 from Beaton.

Click here for more information about the PDC European Tour, including the format, calendar and the prize fund breakdown.

Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Wessel Nijman (88.89) 6-5 (87.61) Darren Webster
Krzysztof Kciuk (84.25) 6-3 (75.68) Kirk Shepherd
Ryan Joyce (100.77) 6-3 (95.51) Matt Clark
Cor Dekker (91.28) 5-6 (88.66) Dyson Parody
Ryan Meikle (94.04) 5-6 (92.17) Paul Rowley
Justin Pipe (93.99) 3-6 (96.72) Kim Huybrechts
Carl Wilkinson (76.37) 6-3 (76.01) Justin Hewitt
Steve Beaton (89.69) 6-5 (84.26) Tony Newell