Impressive Van Barneveld passes Maendl-Lawrance test, Beaton superb against home hero Pietreczko

The first round is heading towards its conclusion with Raymond van Barneveld, Steve Beaton and Chris Dobey the latest trio to make it through to Saturday's action at the German Darts Grand Prix in Sindelfingen.

Van Barneveld showed great mental fortitude and executed his game plan to perfection in a professional win over the methodical, Liam Maendl-Lawrance.

Maendl-Lawrance has been utterly superb at times during his European Tour debut season, but most of his matches have taken nearly an hour to complete owing to his slow but effective throw.

He had the doyen of Dutch darts on the ropes at times in the early going. Averaging 105, he went into a 3-1 lead which could've been 3-0 but as the German's scoring started to dry up at the right moments, Van Barneveld got better.

He made it 3-3 with parity hitting a 79 checkout before taking the lead for the first time with Maendl-Lawrance only able to pressure at 4-3 and with a hammer blow took out 100 using two double 20's with the former waiting on the same target. He sealed it from there with a 14-darter.

Beaton also continued his impressive 2023 so far with a 6-5 win over Ricardo Pietreczko who started his run as the second ranked German and could yet play in the World Matchplay next month.

It was a 92 average with two 180's and two ton plus checkouts featuring a 107. Pietreczko stood waiting on 36 in the decider but Beaton took out 38 using single six and double 16.

He faces European Champion Ross Smith tomorrow, while Chris Dobey has a mouthwatering clash with Luke Humphries to look forward to after seeing off Graham Hall.

This despite a poor show on the doubles from 'Hollywood'. It was a 6-4 win for Dobey but he hit only 6/24 on the outer ring but he overcame his doubling woes to seal his spot in Round Two.

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