Schedule Friday night at International Darts Open including Michael Smith, Raymond van Barneveld and Martin Schindler

The International Darts Open 2025 continues on Friday night with the final eight matches from the first round of the Euro Tour tournament in Riesa. A number of big names will be in action during this session, including Raymond van Barneveld, Martin Schindler, Mike de Decker and former world champion Michael Smith.

The winners will advance to the second round, where a meeting awaits with a player from the top-16 of the world rankings. Read below which eight matches are scheduled for Friday night.
Follow all of the action during the International Darts Open via our live scores.

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Jermaine Wattimena will take to the stage in the SACHSEN arena for his meeting against Karel Sedlacek. For now, "The Machine Gun" has managed to carry on his strong form from the autumn of 2024 into the new season, in which he has already reached two quarter-finals on the Pro Tour. On his previous two Euro Tours, the Dutchman also managed to win at least one match each time. His opponent Sedlacek will be playing his first Euro Tour of the year. The Czech has reaching the last 16 at Players Championship 7 as a provisional highlight this season.

Ricardo Pietreczko is the first big German name to make an appearance at this tournament. 'Pikachu' gets to play in front of his own crowd, as he meets the always tough Krzysztof Ratajski. After a disappointing 2024, Ratajski has started the season considerably better. His annual average is two points higher than last season, and it led to the Pole already reaching two quarter-finals this year. 'The Polish Eagle' did miss the first two Euro Tour tournaments of 2025, and thus starts with a deficit in his mission to qualify for the European Championship. Pietreczko did participate in the Euro Tours in Wieze and Göttingen earlier this year, and was eliminated in the second round each time.

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Raymond van Barneveld has a good chance to at least make it to the second round in Riesa, as he was paired with Patrick Klingelhöfer in the draw, who secured qualification for this event through the Host Nation Qualifier. For Klingelhöfer it will be only his second Euro Tour tournament, after he also managed to qualify for the International Darts Open last year. Then he lost 6-0 to Daryl Gurney with an average of 75.42. Van Barneveld hopes to secure qualification for the World Matchplay in the coming weeks, and a win over Klingelhöfer will provide some important pounds to that end.

The fourth match of the evening is between Michael Smith and Thibault Tricole. Smith has been on the rise in recent weeks, after a very poor start to the season with five consecutive defeats in his first five 2025 duals. However, encouraging was his quarterfinal finish at the UK Open, after which 'Bullyboy' also made it to the last sixteen at the European Darts Trophy and was in the semifinals of Players Championship 10. Smith is currently outside the virtual field for the World Matchplay and will therefore have to perform well at the Pro Tour tournaments in order to travel to Blackpool this summer. With Tricole, he will meet someone who will play a Euro Tour tournament for only the fifth time in his career. The Frenchman has not had a good start to the season. In seven of the ten Players Championship tournaments he lost in the first round, something that happened to him only eleven times in all of 2024.

Michael Smith begins to return to better form after a difficult start to the season

The cracker of the evening is undoubtedly the clash between Dirk van Duijvenbode and Niko Springer. The latter is the new German top talent, and is tipped to become the best German dart player ever. This year Springer already proved several times why he is considered a great talent. He has already won against the likes of Daryl Gurney, Dave Chisnall, Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith this season. Springer already recorded a number of 100+ averages, the absolute highlight being an average of 115.92 at the UK Open. Van Duijvenbode is just approaching his pre-injury top form again. It is actually waiting for the moment that 'Aubergenius' really starts to show up structurally again in the final stages of the Pro Tour tournaments. Recently he already managed this with a semi-final place at Players Championship 7. Characteristic of his growth in form is the number of 180-scores that is increasing again. Nobody threw as many 180-scores during the first ten Players Championship tournaments as Van Duijvenbode.

The eyes of the German fans on Friday night will be focused on Martin Schindler, the surprising defending champion at this tournament. 'The Wall' handed Gerwyn Price a rare defeat at the International Darts Open last year, after the Welshman had won this tournament in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Later in the season, Schindler also won the Swiss Darts Trophy, before also finally capturing his first Players Championship title this year. Schindler will face Thomas Lovely, who has yet to win a match in his two previous Euro Tour appearances.

A surprise final spot at the Belgian Darts Open has given Mike de Decker wings. The Belgian had a difficult start to the season, but his result in Wieze caused a tipping point. De Decker then reached the semifinals twice at floor tournaments and reached the third round at the European Darts Trophy in Göttingen. It ensures that the dart player from Mechelen is fast becoming the highest-ranked Belgian in the world rankings. With a 21st place he is only one place behind compatriot Dimitri Van den Bergh. The difference between the two Belgians is only 11,250 pounds. A good result in Riesa brings 'The Real Deal' a lot closer to a debut in the global top-20. His first opponent at the International Darts Open is Daniel Klose, who came out of the Host Nation Qualifier as one of the winners.

In the final match of the first round, it is Joe Cullen and Robert Owen who will battle for a spot in the last 32. Cullen was absent earlier this year at the Belgian Darts Open, ending his impressive run on the Euro Tour. 'The Rockstar' had last missed a Euro Tour tournament in 2016. At the European Darts Trophy, the Englishman did compete there, but lost in the first round to Ryan Joyce. His opponent Owen made it to the last sixteen at the UK Open last month, but has so far severely disappointed at the floor tournaments. In seven of the ten tournaments, the Welshman had to sit out the first round.

TV Guide

The tournament will be broadcast by Viaplay and PDC TV. As is customary with Euro Tour tournaments, the International Darts Open consists of three tournament days. The afternoon sessions start daily at 12 p.m., while the evening sessions start at 6 p.m.

The first round will take place on Friday, where the 16 Pro Tour players will face 16 players who emerged from the various qualifying tournaments. The winners of these matches will face a player from the top-16 of the world rankings in the second round on Saturday. The third round will be played on Sunday afternoon, before the quarterfinals, semifinals and final are completed on Sunday evening.

Distribution of prize money

All participants starting from the first round are guaranteed £1250 in prize money, while the top-16 enter from the second round and receive £2,500 anyway. This amount eventually rises to the grand prize of £30,000 for the winner.

An important detail is that players who are automatically seeded via the Order of Merit and lose their first match will not be awarded prize money on the various rankings. This does apply to qualifiers who are later designated as seeded by the withdrawal of others.

Schedule International Darts Open 2025

Friday, April 4.

First round

Evening session (from 6 p.m.)

Jermaine Wattimena v Karel Sedlacek

Ricardo Pietreczko v Krzysztof Ratajski

Raymond van Barneveld v Patrick Klingelhoefer

Michael Smith v Thibault Tricole

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Niko Springer

Martin Schindler v Thomas Lovely

Mike De Decker v Daniel Klose

Joe Cullen v Rob Owen

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