Lennon punishes missed doubles to see off Koltsov, North produces comeback to edge past Meulenkamp

The action continues on the opening day at the German Darts Championship with Steve Lennon, Richard North and Jeff Smith all through to the second round.

North in his tie against Ron Meulenkamp produced a brilliant comeback to come from 5-3 down to edge past ‘The Bomb’ 6-5 with a 95 average and four 180’s en route. A tough tie will await ‘Northy’ though on his return to the European Tour with Krzysztof Ratajski next up tomorrow.

Lennon’s will be even tougher as he takes on World Number One, Michael van Gerwen who he lost out to in the final of the 2018 Dutch Darts Masters. He pounced on missed doubles from Boris Koltsov which seem to be his achilles heel as he hit 2/11 in a 6-2 defeat.

The Irishman hit two ton plus finishes en route with a high checkout of 142 en route as despite no 180’s, he hit 10 140’s and 37% on his doubles.

While Smith on the otherhand survived a real scare against the Host Nation Qualifier, Franz Roetzsch. ‘The Silencer’ was 3-1 and 5-2 up and seemingly cruising but was forced into a deciding leg in the end.

Roetzsch showed some real glimpses of quality including two 180’s, three ton plus checkouts with a high of 137 which contributed to 5/6 (83%) on his doubles.

In the end though, the Canadian Number One missed bull for 170 for the match and cleaned up from there with a 15 darter after being put under massive pressure to convert in the decider.

Scott Waites (93.66) 6-3 (90.35) Darren Penhall

Daniel Larsson (82.89) 1-6 (97.21) William O'Connor

Ron Meulenkamp (89.23) 5-6 (94.93) Richard North

Boris Koltsov (84.92) 2-6 (90.14) Steve Lennon

Franz Roetzsch (91.42) 5-6 (89.03) Jeff Smith

Lukas Wenig v Cody Harris

Ronny Huybrechts v Dragutin Horvat

Steffen Siepmann v Mervyn King