Baltic Sea Darts Open Friday afternoon Round-Up | Dimitri van den Bergh back with Soutar win as Justin Hood and Jimmy van Schie stand-out

The Baltic Sea Darts Open began on Friday afternoon with the first round seeing the big names find out their opponents for this weekend. Highlights included Soutar v Van den Bergh, Hood v Hopp, Gilding v De Zwaan and Van Schie facing Ian White.

Van Schie was one of the most impressive at the Baltic Sea Darts Open. The Dutchman has had a bit of a hard time since he came over to the PDC after much fanfare in winning Lakeside but as Andy Baetens himself proved, it is not the golden ticket.

He hadn't qualified for a European Tour until this weekend and in facing Ian White, it was a tricky assignment on paper but in the end he whitewashed Diamond 6-0 to claim the victory.

He surged 2-0 up breaking on 60 to start after White missed the same target and bookended it with an 80 checkout. Van Schie broke again with an 83 checkout and pinned double 16 to hold. He was two away at 4-0. He sealed the deal from there taking out 126 for 5-0 then 92 for a whitewash averaging 96 in a 6-0 win.

Also impressing was in fact Dimitri van den Bergh who has found wins supremely hard to come by as of late and has been in increasing danger of losing his Tour Card but it has also been fits and starts in that he sometimes produces displays whether through averages or sheer grit that make you think maybe there is a way back.

He saw off Alan Soutar 6-2 coming from 2-0 down to do so. A 71 checkout for Van den Bergh to break back and he held for 2-2 with an 11-darter on double 16. Van den Bergh broke back for 3-2 with a 69 checkout with Soutar unable to take out 134. He was suddenly throwing for 4-2 as a result.

Soutar missed chance after chance from 56 to hold and Van den Bergh falls over the line on double 20 to break and make it 5-2. He pinned the same target to win.

Andrew Gilding was also a victor seeing off Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-4. 'Goldfinger' broke with a 56 checkout for a 21 darter to go 2-1 up. He pinned double five for 3-1 and De Zwaan looked to be going 3-2 down. Gilding held with an 87 checkout and De Zwaan hit double 16 to make it 4-3.

De Zwaan broke back on double nine for 4-4 and he was suddenly throwing to go one away at 5-4. But De Zwaan missed multiple darts to hold and Gilding eventually hit double eight for 5-4 before sealing the deal on double 16 for 6-4.

While Justin Hood at one point was averaging over 112 in facing off against Max Hopp and looked to be easing through with a huge average to boot but in the end it wasn't as simple as that. He broke twice for a 4-1 lead pinning 52 to go two away and was averaging 112. A 122 checkout for Hopp saw him break to go 4-2 behind. Hood broke back with a 90 checkout to go 5-2 up and was one away but a match dart missed from 97 and Hopp hit 74 to make it 5-3. Hopp held on double five to make it 5-4 and Hood had the throw for the win finally claiming it with a 127 checkout for 6-4 in a highly entertaining win.

Other winners included Ricky Evans who quickly dashed past Teemu Harju 6-1, Karel Sedlacek survived a real fight as he saw off Jason Riedtke the Host Nation Qualifier 6-5. While Ryan Joyce came from behind to down Christian Kist 6-3. Krzysztof Ratajski also survived late resolve as he took down Daniel Klose 6-3.