Preview Sunday afternoon Czech Darts Open: Littler v Van Veen and Rock v Van Gerwen headline

From Friday, September 5 to Sunday, September 7, the Czech Darts Open 2025 in Prague is scheduled. This is the eleventh tournament on the PDC European Tour.

After the Flanders Darts Trophy last week, the Czech Darts Open is the next event in a series of Euro Tour tournaments leading up to the European Darts Championship at the end of October. The 32 best players on the European Tour qualify for this final tournament, so the coming weeks will decide who we will see back in the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund at the end of next month.

Luke Humphries starts the tournament as the defending champion. 'Cool Hand Luke' was too strong in last year's final with an 8-1 win over surprise finalist Kim Huybrechts. Sunday afternoon's matches from the last sixteen are scheduled in Prague, and below you can read which players will appear at the oche.
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The afternoon session at the PVA Expo in Prague will be kicked off by Luke Humphries and Martin Schindler. Humphries started this tournament as the defending champion and won in his opening match - without impressive play - against Dirk van Duijvenbode. Humphries has not been at his best since his final victory in Premier League Darts and this weekend he wants to gain confidence towards the important majors that are coming up this fall. For a place in the quarterfinals he has to beat Martin Schindler. The Wall', this year's winner of the Austrian Darts Open, defeated Madars Razma 6-3 in the previous round and could make things difficult for Humphries.

Next up is Rob Cross. 'Voltage' has been blowing hot and cold this year, but rather the latter in recent months. He regularly went out early at tournaments and yearns for another good performance. In his opening match this weekend, he played very solidly to brush aside the always dangerous Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1. Against Wessel Nijman, Cross will probably have to raise his level. The 25-year-old Dutchman stayed just under 100 average in his 6-5 win against Damon Heta in the previous round. Nijman already reached the semifinals several times this year on the European Tour, will he be able to move up this weekend?

Stephen Bunting starts his match with Peter Wright as a towering favorite. That may sound strange when you look at the record of both men, but this year Bunting is performing much better than Wright. 'The Bullet' has already won tournaments at the World Series of Darts, Players Championship and European Tour and is neatly in the top four of the world rankings. How different is the case with Wright. The two-time former world champion is but a shadow of his former self and has not managed to win a single tournament this year. Even more, Wright often goes out - with very mediocre - play in an early phase of the tournament and has now dropped to sixteenth place in the world rankings. Can he finally recover this weekend? That will be all that is needed to put Bunting to the firing at all.

Next up is James Wade and Ross Smith. Wade has been particularly good this year, already reaching two major finals. Also this weekend 'The Machine' is clearly motivated, in his first match he defeated Nathan Aspinall 6-3. Wade clocked an average of over 107 and if he reaches that level again this afternoon, Smith faces a tough task. Smith himself was 6-4 too strong for Andrew Gilding in the previous round. With an average of just over 90, he did not play great, but Smith has enough scoring ability on his own to compete with Wade. Especially his doubles percentage will be important, Wade is someone who always throws his doubles at a high percentage and thus leaves his opponents few chances.

Will Luke Littler remain on a winning streak? 'The Nuke' had a great summer with final wins at the World Matchplay, Australian Darts Masters, New Zealand Darts Masters and just last week at the Flanders Darts Trophy. The 18-year-old Englishman seems to be invincible and had no trouble at all in his opening match with Cameron Menzies. His match against Gian van Veen is a repeat of the World Youth final in 2023. When Littler won, will Van Veen - who handled Danny Noppert with impressive play in the previous round - succeed in beating Littler this time?

With Gerwyn Price against Jonny Clayton, we get an all-Welsh duel afterwards. Price - who had to cancel last weekend's Flanders Darts Trophy due to a wrist injury - opened strongly this weekend by beating Niko Springer 6-2 in his opening match. 'The Iceman' clocked a 100+ average and will certainly have gained confidence. Clayton is not only a good friend, but also his teammate with whom he has won the World Cup of Darts twice. The Ferret' is having a strong year and started this weekend with a 6-2 victory against Ryan Joyce. An exciting duel incoming.

The penultimate match of the afternoon session features the biggest draw of the third round. Michael van Gerwen particularly impressed in the previous round against Mike De Decker. 'Mighty Mike' won 6-0 and recorded an average of no less than 112.73 in that match. The 'old' Van Gerwen seemed to be back, wait and see if it was a one-off performance or if he can confirm this today. Against Josh Rock, Van Gerwen will have to be at the top of his game again to qualify for the quarterfinals. 'Rocky' won the World Cup of Darts in mid-June alongside Daryl Gurney and has been playing on a cloud ever since. Last weekend he appeared to be on his way to the title at the Flanders Darts Trophy, but in a hugely exciting final, Littler was ultimately too strong 8-7.

Closing out this afternoon session is the duel between Jermaine Wattimena and Ryan Searle. Wattimena - who captured his first PDC ranking title this year - defeated Brendan Dolan and sixth-seeded Chris Dobey in his previous two matches, respectively. Searle, on the other hand, was too strong for Filip Manak in the opening round and subsequently floored 11th-seeded Dave Chisnall. Wattimena and Searle are not that far apart and this could be an exciting match.