"It's something I could never have dreamed of beforehand" - Heine Uuldriks astonished by 'fairytale' European Tour debut win

Before today, the name Heine Uuldriks would not be a familiar one with darts fans. However, he has since plastered his name into the sport following a triumphant introduction to the European Tour. His 6-5 win over Ricardo Pietreczko was a stunning upset in front of a passionate home crowd.

The Dutchman was one of the four host-nation qualifiers competing this weekend. His expectations from fans were little but in Maastricht, there was hope that he could pull off an unlikely result. That did not seem the case in the opening stages when Pietreczko, averaging over 110, was playing a blinder in his first European Tour since the end of May.

However, back came Uuldriks. He would eventually take a 5-4 lead with the crowd firmly on his side. Pietreczko was seemingly affected by this, but kept his cool to force a decider. Despite finishing with an average surpassing 101, that was not enough to see off Uuldriks.

He missed just one dart on the outer ring, finishing with a flourish on the bull to culminate a European Tour thriller. He raced off in celebration, lapping up the support from the fans.

After the win, he was in disbelief in what he had achieved. "Yeah, it's unbelievable," he said on stage. "You don't know what's happening to you. I have to be honest, he was throwing really well at the start.

"I'd seen a bit of him and thought it might not be too bad, but he was absolutely fantastic. Eventually, I started fighting back. I just kept throwing, with the crowd behind me. It was madness. It's something I could never have dreamed of beforehand. Not in a million years."

These last few days have been a dream for the Dutchman. From competing at the qualifiers, making it through to a debut European Tour before challenging a player with the calibre of Pietreczko was mesmerising.

"Of course it's a fairytale," he suitably described. "Yesterday, I went to the qualifiers, and qualifying was fantastic in itself. Then you see the draw for the next round and it's Pietreczko. You think, 'Surely not.' It just keeps getting crazier."

To make it even more remarkable, he has not been taking the sport that seriously for a while. "I have to say, I've been playing darts for a while, but I've only started taking it seriously over the last few months. To see it all paying off like this is unbelievable."

The doubles trend seemed to follow from the qualifiers. "I don't know what it is with my doubles. I was doing it in the qualifiers as well. I was checking everything out, and everything was going in. I'm just living a fairytale. I think I'm playing Dolan again tomorrow. I'm not getting ahead of myself at all. It's fantastic. The crowd gave me so much motivation. Every treble I hit, the reaction was incredible. I've never experienced anything like it."

It was a new experience, and the nerves were there. "It might have looked that way, but I definitely had nerves. I think I went 5-4 up, and then suddenly I started shaking. He threw a good leg to make it 5-5. He had the throw, of course, and won the bull. Then I took out 81 in 12 darts. How is that even possible? I'm genuinely living a fairytale. It's hard to comprehend, really."

He will take on Brendan Dolan in the second round. The Irishman was a late replacement for Rob Cross and will have a very tricky task.