James Wade beat Raymond van Barneveld in a last-leg decider in a heavyweight first round clash at the Belgian Darts Open, while Peter Wright set up a showdown with Michael van Gerwen after defeating Geert de Vos.
Wade had won three of his nine matches in 2024 coming into this event and looked to be embroiled in the encounter as van Barneveld had checkouts of 100, 65 and 84 to take control of the tie at 4-2. 'The Machine' did manage to win the next two legs which included a 121 to cut the deficit to one. Van Barneveld then missed two darts to go one leg away from winning in the nineth leg, then another three to be throwing for the match in the next.
He recovered from it brilliantly though by taking out 90 to save himself with Wade waiting on 16 to end it. In the deciding leg, the 11-time PDC televised winner hit a 180 at the perfect time to pile the pressure on the Dutchman, eventually pinning tops to scrape through to Saturday's action.
Wright managed to keep the home crowd quiet as he had enough to see off de Vos 6-2. 'Snakebite', once again far from his best, averaged below 90 in what was a unusual Friday appearance for him on the European Tour. Wright played in the Premier League last night and is still without a win in that competition.
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De Vos was able to give the crowd something to cheer about as both of his winning legs were ton plus finishes, but the Host Nation Qualifier could not take advantage of his opponent's drop in level. Mike De Decker and Dimitri Van den Bergh are now the only Belgian players left in the event.
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