European Darts Open Sunday afternoon Round-Up: Michael van Gerwen dumped out, Nathan Aspinall headlines final session

Luke Woodhouse produced one of the comebacks of the European Tour season, while Sebastian Bialecki reached a landmark first Euro Tour quarter-final during a dramatic afternoon at the European Darts Open in Leverkusen.

The afternoon got underway in slightly underwhelming fashion as Jermaine Wattimena did a professional job of getting by an out-of-sorts Ryan Joyce to make his second consecutive quarter final on the European Tour stage. ‘The Machine Gun’ was in control throughout the match, but didn’t need to get out of first gear in a low-key affair in which neither player showcased what they can do on the stage.

What followed was simply extraordinary, as Luke Woodhouse completed an improbable comeback from 4-0 down to defeat Jonny Clayton in a deciding leg. After four legs, ‘The Ferret’ was averaging 105 and in cruise control, but four fifteen darters and a superb twelve darter to win the match saw the reigning Baltic Sea Darts Open champion home to make his third quarter final of the year on the European Tour with an average of just over 98.

Another thriller took place thereafter as Dirk van Duijvenbode got the better of title favourite Wessel Nijman. In a thriller which saw six maximums and breaks of throw aplenty, the difference maker was Aubergenius's incredible combination shots at crucial times, with 126 and 130 on the bull pinned, and a showstopping 143 to win the match with Nijman on a finish himself, to see the world number 28 through to his second Euro Tour final session of the year.

Damon Heta then turned on the style to sink Michael van Gerwen in what felt like his most complete stage performance of 2026. Five 180s went for ‘The Heat’, but the deciding factor came on the outer ring as the Australian number one hit 60% of his doubles whilst the world number three missed nine of his thirteen attempts, despite his impressive scoring. An average of over 100 and a 6-4 scoreline felt like justification for what was a sterling effort from Heta to book his spot in this evening’s action.

Sebastian Bialecki then made a little bit of personal history in getting past Kevin Doets with a 102 average, in turn placing him in his first ever European Tour quarter-final. ‘Bolt’ took advantage of a despondent Doets who struggled in the first five legs and paid the price for his slow start, eventually recovering to average 98 but unable to turn the tide and continue his impressive form in the greatest tour in professional sport as he succumbed to a 6-4 loss to the number one player on the Development Tour.

James Wade was professional in seeing off Host Nation Qualifier Jan Schmidt thereafter. The last German standing kicked off this match in incredible fashion with a 152 checkout, but ‘The Machine’ then took control, going 5-1 up before missing ten match darts. For a brief moment, there looked to be scope for a similar comeback to what ‘Lightning’ did against Cameron Menzies on Friday, but the number four seed eventually pinned double 4 to get over the line and bring the curtain down on a fairytale weekend for Schmidt in only his second European Tour event.

The EDO title defence continued for Nathan Aspinall as he saw off Ross Smith to book his place in tonight’s action. The matchup promised fireworks on the scoring front, but only four 180s were shared between the pair. Despite that, ‘The Asp’ produced a controlled display, averaging 96 and racing into a 4-1 lead over ‘Smudger’. Smith threatened a late revival, but Aspinall held his nerve to close out victory with his second match dart and keep his hopes of retaining the title alive.

Krzysztof Ratajski rounded up the afternoon with a solid victory over top seed Gian van Veen. ‘The Giant’ struggled to get down to a finish regularly, and ‘The Polish Eagle’ took full advantage, showing his dexterity on double 16, as well as on tops, a target he often struggles on, to see off the Dutchman 6-3 and set up a meeting with Aspinall tonight.

The final session of the 2026 European Darts Open gets underway from 6pm GMT tonight, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final available to watch for a fee on PDC.TV, and DartsNews.com continuing their coverage of the event through their liveblog, which goes up from 5:30pm.