Poland Darts Open Friday evening Round-Up | Joe Cullen, Cristo Reyes and Daryl Gurney set the tone in Krakow

Victories for Daryl Gurney, Connor Scutt, Cristo Reyes, and Joe Cullen set the tone on the opening night of the Poland Darts Open, with all four booking their places in the second round.

Gurney produced one of the most convincing performances of the session at the Poland Darts Open, easing past Polish Qualifier Dawid Robak with a dominant 6–1 victory. Scutt also advanced, though his path was less straightforward. The Englishman stormed into a 4–0 lead against Damon Heta, only to see his opponent fight back and threaten a comeback. Nevertheless, Scutt regained control in time to seal a 6–4 win.

Reyes continued his impressive start to the 2026 campaign with a solid 6–3 triumph over Germany’s Niko Springer. Cullen rounded off the group of winners by silencing the home crowd, defeating Host Nation Qualifier Krzysztof Kciuk 6–2 in a composed display.

Elsewhere, Wessel Nijman and Mike De Decker progressed to the second round without producing their very best form. Nijman defeated Englishman Thomas Lovely 6–3 in a match dominated by missed opportunities on the doubles.

Nijman made the perfect start by breaking Lovely in the opening leg after the Englishman missed his first two darts at a double. Lovely again faltered on the outer ring in the second leg, missing another dart at double, which allowed Nijman to double his lead with a 74 finish for 2–0.

The third leg followed a similar pattern. Lovely squandered further chances at double, and Nijman punished him once more to secure a second break and move into a commanding 3–0 lead. At that stage, the Dutchman appeared firmly in control.

However, the momentum shifted as Nijman himself began to struggle on the doubles. Lovely took advantage of the Dutchman’s missed chances and found his finishing range, reeling off three consecutive legs to level the match at 3–3.

Just when Lovely seemed poised to complete the turnaround, the pattern of missed doubles returned. In the seventh leg, he squandered no fewer than eight darts at double. Nijman capitalized with a steady 21-dart leg to regain the lead. The player from Uitgeest then held his own throw in 15 darts to move within one leg of victory and wrapped up the contest in style with a superb 100 checkout for an 11-dart finish to seal a 6–3 win.

De Decker also secured his passage to the second round with a 6–4 victory over Germany’s Marvin Kraft, although the Belgian never truly found top gear.

The opening leg took some time to settle, but De Decker eventually held his throw in 20 darts. He then produced an excellent 12-dart leg to break Kraft and move 2–0 ahead. However, he was unable to consolidate the break, as Kraft immediately responded with a clinical 78 finish to reduce the deficit to 2–1.

‘The Real Deal’ struck back once more with another break and this time successfully backed it up, extending his advantage to 4–1 and putting himself firmly in control of the contest.

Kraft kept himself in the match with a well-taken 14-darter to make it 4–2, but De Decker restored his cushion in the following leg, reaching match point after 20 darts and appearing set for a straightforward victory.

The German, however, showed resilience by winning two consecutive legs to narrow the score to 5–4 and briefly raise the prospect of a deciding leg. De Decker held his nerve at the crucial moment, producing a solid 16-dart leg to close out the match and confirm his place in the next round.

It proved to be a disappointing evening for Dirk van Duijvenbode, whose 2026 European Tour debut ended in a 6–3 defeat to Czech talent Adam Gawlas.

Van Duijvenbode found himself under immediate pressure in the opening leg, as Gawlas produced a clinical 94 finish in 15 darts to secure an early break. The Czech then consolidated that advantage with an 88 checkout in 18 darts to move 2–0 ahead.

The problems continued for the Dutchman in the third leg, where three missed darts at double 8 allowed Gawlas to extend his lead to 3–0. Two untidy visits from Van Duijvenbode in the fourth leg further punished him, and Gawlas capitalized with a 19-darter to stretch the advantage to 4–0.

Van Duijvenbode finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth leg with a solid 15-darter, but Gawlas immediately responded to move to match point at 5–1. The Dutchman showed fighting spirit, producing a 12-dart leg followed by a 15-darter to close the gap to 5–3 and keep his hopes alive.

However, further missed opportunities proved costly. In the ninth leg, Van Duijvenbode missed three darts that would have put additional pressure on his opponent. Gawlas punished those errors by calmly hitting double 2 to seal a 6–3 victory and complete a minor upset on the opening night.