Jonny Clayton overcomes Michael Smith as Andrew Gilding sees off below par Van den Bergh to complete 2nd round field at 2024 Hungarian Darts Trophy

Andrew Gilding and Jonny Clayton have completed the second round field at the 2024 Hungarian Darts Trophy in Budapest, rounding out the Friday night session with wins over Dimitri van den Bergh and Michael Smith respectively.

In a battle of UK Open champions past and present, 2023 champ Andrew Gilding, faced 2024 champ Dimitri van den Bergh. In truth, both players were far from their best, with neither able to get their power scoring to click. Gilding took control early though, moving 3-0 up with legs of 18, 17 and 21.

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Although Van den Bergh got himself back into things by reeling off the next two legs in 20 and 19, the somewhat slow standard of play made it hard for the Belgian to really pick up any momentum. As such, Gilding broke the throw again in leg 6 to rebuild his two leg buffer and then, in the best leg of the match so far, held in 13 darts to move one away from the win. Van den Bergh did pull one leg back in the next, but needing to pressure the Gilding throw to stay alive, 'The Dreammaker' failed to muster a treble in his first 11 darts, leaving an unpressured Gilding to eventually wrap up on double 16 for a match winning 21 dart leg.

Finally, to round off the night, Michael Smith faced Jonny Clayton in arguably the pick of the first round ties. Despite a number missed doubles in the opener from Clayton, a lack of pressure coming from Smith allowed the Welshman to hold throw. A 15 dart break then followed for Clayton as he moved two clear. Moments later, another 15 darter from Clayton and he was three legs ahead of the recent World Series of Darts Finals runner up.

Smith then finally get himself on the board in leg 4 via double 12. The missed doubled returned for 'BullyBoy' in the next leg, but this time Clayton couldn't pressure, allowing Smith to get the match back on throw at 3-2 behind. Having done the hard work, Smith missed a dart at tops for a level game in leg 6, with Clayton ruthlessly punishing to get back his two leg lead. With the next few legs going with the darts, Clayton was the man to get the next break, sealing the contest as a result too, via a pop-pop 52 for a 6-3 win.

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