Rusty-Jake Rodriquez edges Heta in tense encounter as supreme Clemens comfortably beats Meikle

Rusty-Jake Rodriguez edged out Damon Heta in a tight, tense encounter 6-5 whilst Gabriel Clemens looked at his best in a 6-1 rout of Ryan Meikle at the Belgian Darts Open.

First up it was World Cup of Darts winner Damon Heta vs Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. With the Austrian having won their only previous meeting from June 2021, could he repeat the success?

He got off to the perfect start with a brilliant 125 checkout in the opening leg. Both players exchanged comfortable holds of throw early on before Rodriguez missed 2 darts for a 3-2 lead, only to see Heta miss D16, Rusty-Jake then checked out D5 to hold.

After blowing 3 clear darts to break the Heta throw in the 6th leg, Rodriguez responded in style with a 112 out for his 2nd ton plus checkout. Leg 9 saw both players suffer double trouble of the highest order, Rodriguez eventually holding throw despite 10 missed darts.

After a brilliant 171 in the decider to leave D8, Heta must have felt he'd at least get a shot at victory. Rodriguez however had other ideas, checking out a nerveless 82 finish to win the match 6-5.

In the 2nd game of the day, out of form Gabriel Clemens took on Ryan Meikle. It was the "German Giant" who took the opener with a perfect shanghai finish on 120.

The 2nd leg was an even better finish for Clemens, 124 taken out on the bull. Meikle showed some brilliant bullseye hitting of his own in the 4th leg to pull back to 3-1.

Ultimately however it was in vain as more supreme finishing from Clemens including a 101 checkout and a double-double 100 saw him the comfortable victor by 6 legs to 1.