In form Ryan Searle suffers early UK Open exit as Peter Wright and Andrew Gilding move through to the next round

One of the dark horses for success at the 2024 UK Open, Ryan Searle had suffered a disappointing early exit. 'Heavy Metal' was dumped out 10-9 by Graham Usher in the opening match of Friday night on board 3 in Minehead.

Elsewhere, Peter Wright got his campaign up and running with a comfortable 10-3 win over Joshua Richardson. Wright averaged just over 94 in victory on board 8.

Also on the outside boards in Minehead there were mixed success for the Dutch stars. Gian Van Veen and Danny Noppert are through to the next round with respective wins over Florian Hempel and Gabriel Clemens but for former UK Open champion Raymond van Barneveld, Luke Woodhouse proved too strong with a 10-9 win.

On the main stage, defending UK Open champion Andrew Gilding was involved in a battle with Josh Payne but eventually, 'Goldfinger' got over the line with a 10-7 victory.