Preview Saturday afternoon Flanders Darts Trophy: Peter Wright, Rob Cross & Josh Rock begin quest for Euro Tour glory

From Friday, August 29 to Sunday, August 31, the Flanders Darts Trophy in Antwerp is on the program. This is the tenth Euro Tour tournament of the season. Saturday afternoon the first seven matches from the second round are on the program.

Seven indeed, and not eight, after all Ryan Joyce gets a free pass to the next round after the withdrawal of Gerwyn Price. The 40-year-old Welshman is still suffering from a wrist injury and is therefore unable to compete. He may return next week at the Czech Darts Open.

The Flanders Darts Trophy kicks off a series of Euro Tour tournaments before the final finale later in October: the European Darts Championship. The 32 best players on the Euro Tour qualify for this final tournament, so the coming weeks will decide who we will see back at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund at the end of next month.

Dave Chisnall managed to win the 2024 edition and thus starts the tournament as the defending champion. He defeated German Ricardo Pietreczko 8-6 in last year's final.
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The afternoon session at the Antwerp Expo will kick off with the duel between Rob Cross and Mensur Suljovic. Cross, 2018 world champion and also winner of several majors, is experiencing a rather mediocre year by his standards. 'Voltage' won a Players Championship and a tournament of the World Series of Darts (Dutch Darts Masters), but for the time being it did not really flourish on the majors. On the European Tour he is still dry this year.

What about Mensur Suljovic? The 53-year-old Austrian, once a regular in the final stages of major tournaments, has now dropped to 61st place in the world rankings and his PDC Tour Card is in danger. Suljovic did good business in the latter respect by winning here in the first round against Andrew Gilding. Can he also surprise against Cross?

Next up is Peter Wright, another top player who has been on the dole for some time. Wright has been a mere shadow of the player he once was this year and is currently only 16th in the world rankings. He has not won a single title this year and there is nothing to suggest that he will change that this weekend.

On the contrary, Wright will have his hands more than full with Luke Woodhouse in the second round. Woody' is having a good year and impressed in the first round here with a 100+ average in his 6-1 win against Swede Johan Engström. Will Wright manage to reverse the negative trend or will he still have to acknowledge his superiority to Woodhouse?

Next, Dave Chisnall begins his title defense. 'Chizzy' was regularly successful on the European Tour in recent years, but this year he did not manage to win a tournament. Also on the majors he went out quickly. Can he recover in Antwerp, where he was successful last year?

The 44-year-old Englishman must first pass Leon Weber to do so. The German will start this match with confidence after his surprising 6-5 win over Jermaine Wattimena in the first round. Weber battled back from a 4-1 deficit in that match to thus still grab victory. Against Chisnall, however, he will want to be on target from the beginning of the match.

Afterwards, look out for Josh Rock.The 24-year-old Northern Irishman won the World Cup of Darts this year alongside Daryl Gurney and has also already won a Players Championship. At the past World Matchplay, he once again showed his top form by reaching the semifinals. 'Rocky' has climbed to twelfth place in the world rankings and is increasingly becoming a player to reckon with in the final stages of major tournaments.

His opponent in the second round is Karel Sedlacek. The Czech survived a thriller in the opening round against Wessel Nijman and is certainly not to be underestimated. Sedlacek has a high scoring ability, if he can combine that with a high doubles percentage, a stunt is certainly in the cards.

Christian Kist may be the first of three Dutchmen in action this afternoon session. 'The Lipstick' will meet eighth seed Damon Heta. The Australian has already won two Players Championships this year and starts this match as favorite.

Yet he will certainly not underestimate Kist, in the opening round Kist won with good play from Scot Cameron Menzies. If he can show the same form against Heta, we might get an exciting match.

In the penultimate match of this afternoon session, Chris Dobey takes on Krzysztof Ratajski. Dobey has already won two Players Championships this year and just last month reached the quarterfinals at the World Matchplay.

On the European Tour, he is still waiting for his first title. This weekend then, maybe? If so, "Hollywood" should be first for Ratajski. The experienced Pole was too strong for Steve Lennon in the first round here, 6-3.

The afternoon session in Antwerp will conclude with a Dutch clash between Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode. Noppert, the thirteenth series leader at the Flanders Darts Trophy, is just a little higher in the world rankings than Van Duijvenbode.

Still, it is difficult to declare a favorite for this duel. Both players are very close. Noppert is perhaps just a little more accurate on his doubles, while Van Duijvenbode has a slightly higher scoring ability than Noppert. An exciting match announces itself.