BARNEY HOLDS OFF DOLAN! It looked like the whitewash was on, but Raymond van Barneveld started to implode on the doubles as Dolan fought back - but the Dutchman eventually wins 6-3! Up next 👉 Ryan Meikle v Rowby-John Rodriguez 📺 bit.ly/PDCTVLive
Meikle overcomes boos and whistles to silence partisan crowd as van Barneveld and Gurney also progress at the Austrian Darts Open
PDCFriday, 21 April 2023 at 22:14
As the Austrian Darts Open continues, Raymond van Barneveld, Ryan Meikle and Daryl Gurney are all safely through into Saturday's round two thanks to wins over Brendan Dolan, Rowby-John Rodriguez and Stephen Bunting.
Fresh off the back of his 56th birthday on Thursday, Raymond van Barneveld took on Brendan Dolan in the fourth match of the Friday evening session. Showing no signs of a birthday hangover, Barney raced into a 3-0 lead. Some missed doubles from the Dutchman allowed Dolan a chance to get back to 4-1, but when he missed Barney hit to make it 5-0. Dolan would get on the board and suddenly the comeback seemed on with the score now 5-3 to the Dutchman. Sadly for Dolan and his fans, van Barneveld would see out the win 6-3.
Next up it was Ryan Meikle against Austria's own Rowby-John Rodriguez. With a fervent, packed-out crowd in Graz firmly behind the Austrian, Meikle set about quietening them down a little and picked up the first three legs.
When Rodriguez finally got on the board at 3-1 the crowd came back alive. As the whistles and boos began to get louder and louder whenever Meikle was throwing, Rodriguez began trying his best to play to the crowd. With both players fired-up, it was Ryan Meikle who prevail, overcoming not just his opponent but a partisan crowd also to seal his spot in round two.
With Daryl Gurney taking on Stephen Bunting next up it was Superchin that started the better of the two, taking the opening leg. Bunting though averaging much higher than Gurney, just couldn't seem to break the Northern Irishman's throw.
After a succession of successful holds of throw from both players, it was Gurney who was the first to get a break of throw in leg eight to move just one away from the victory. With six match darts going begging though, had a chance to save his skin. But when he missed Gurney returned to seal the victory and a place in round two.
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