Van Gerwen avenges Vienna final defeat to Suljovic, Ratajski edges past Lewis in drama filled tie

Michael van Gerwen and Krzysztof Ratajski are the first players through to the final session of action at the European Darts Matchplay in Mannheim.

Van Gerwen started off proceedings by avenging last week's defeat to Mensur Suljovic in the final of the Austrian Darts Championship in Vienna. He claimed a 6-4 win over 'The Gentle' averaging 105.5 compared to his opponents 101.8.

It was a fairly even contest with Van Gerwen getting more darts at double seemingly the difference. He hit 6/12 compared to 4/8.

For Ratajski he had to survive a late surge from Adrian Lewis to move through. 'The Polish Eagle' comfortably moved into a 4-0 lead and was seemingly cruising towards the next round; but 'Jackpot' came back to force a decider.

In that decider he missed bull for a 167 checkout for the match and Ratajski held his nerve to claim a 6-5 victory over the former two time World Champion.

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European Darts Matchplay schedule

Sunday afternoon session

Michael van Gerwen (105.59) 6-4 (101.82) Mensur Suljovic
Adrian Lewis (92.08) 5-6 (97.01) Krzysztof Ratajski
Daryl Gurney v Rob Cross
Dave Chisnall v Ricky Evans
Ian White v Jonny Clayton
James Wade v Wayne Jones
William O’Connor v Joe Cullen
Gerwyn Price v Glen Durrant