Rodriguez survives four match darts en route to Noppert win, Hempel brushes aside Brooks

The second round line-up is complete at the European Darts Matchplay with Rowby-John Rodriguez and Florian Hempel completing proceedings on Friday night in Trier.

It was a tale of two contrasting ties though as Rodriguez survived four match darts over three legs to edge out Danny Noppert 6-5 as he sealed it in a decider with a 78 checkout to set up a tie with Gerwyn Price in round two.

This featured a 93.67 average, highest checkout of 108 and slightly better doubling percentage with 35.3% in the end for 'Little John'.

But for 'The Freeze', he froze with the finishing line in sight as he went 5-3 up but spurned chance after chance to finish the tie off allowing the Austrian to send it all the way where he had the throw and finished it off to devastating effect as he continues his superb year on the European Tour.

While joining Lukas Wenig in terms of home hopes is Florian Hempel who brushed aside Bradley Brooks 6-2 despite only averaging 79 in the end. The doubling was the difference with 6/25 pinned compared to 2/15 from his opponent in a game which didn't deliver on the pre match billing.