Ross Smith was by far the best performer on the first day of the International Darts Open 2020. With an average of 112.8 and 75% on his doubles, “Smudger” moved into round 2 in a superior manner. His opponent Mario Vandenbogaerde had no chance to take control of the game. Smith played the second highest average in the history of the International Darts Open and missed the record set by Joe Cullen, whose average was just one point higher.
German number 1 Max Hopp won his opening match clearly with a 6:1 victory over former BDO world champion Jelle Klaasen. Hopp played a good match and will meet the winner of the last European Tour event, Jose de Sousa, tomorrow. With this victory Hopp took an important step towards the European Darts Championship (29.10. – 01.11.2020), for which he is now almost certainly qualified.
Gabriel Clemens was equally successful in his full-German first round match. The “German Giant” did not have any problems with the 6:1 victory against the qualifier Philipp Hagemann. Clemens even finished the game with a 167 high finish.
Martin Schindler, meanwhile, also beat the Polish player Tytus Kanik very comfortably. Schindler won 6:1, even though Kanik set the highlight of the game with a 170 checkout.
Franz Rötzsch (6:4 against Brendan Dolan) and Robert Marijanovic, who beat a struggling Jamie Lewis 6:0 without any problems, also successfully qualified for the second round. This brings the total number of Germans in the second round to five – more than ever before!
Here are all the results at one glance:
Afternoon session:
Scott Marsh 5:6 Jason Lowe
Benito van de Pas 3:6 Andreas Harrysson
Simeon Heinz 2:6 Andy Hamilton
Mario Vandenbogaerde 1:6 Ross Smith
Franz Roetzsch 6:4 Brendan Dolan
Michael Rosenauer 2:6 Ron Meulenkamp
Steve West 6:3 Toni Alcinas
Danny Noppert 6:1 Sebastian Pohl
Evening session:
Jamie Lewis 0:6 Robert Marijanovic
Tytus Kanik 1:6 Martin Schindler
Scott Baker 6:4 Michael Unterbuchner
Martijn Kleermaker 6:5 Arsen Ballaj
Madars Razma 6:4 Kai Fan Leung
Max Hopp 6:1 Jelle Klaasen
Gabriel Clemens 6:1 Philipp Hagemann
Maik Kuivenhoven 0:6 Jesus Noguera
The following pairings will take place on saturday when the top-seeded players enter the competition facing the winners of today’s first round:
Afternoon session:
Jamie Hughes : Steve West
Adrian Lewis : Danny Noppert
Michael Smith : Martin Schindler
Joe Cullen : Robert Marijanovic
Daryl Gurney : Scott Baker
Dave Chisnall : Ron Meulenkamp
James Wade : Andreas Harrysson
Rob Cross : Franz Rötzsch
Evening session:
Krzysztof Ratajski : Martijn Kleermaker
Stephen Bunting : Andy Hamilton
Nathan Aspinall : Jason Lowe
Mensur Suljovic : Gabriel Clemens
Michael van Gerwen : Madars Razma
Gerwyn Price : Ross Smith
Jose De Sousa : Max Hopp
Ian White : Jesus Noguera
