Callan Rydz enjoyed one of his biggest successes on the European Tour in Graz on Sunday as he took the scalp of Peter Wright in round two of the Interwetten Austrian Darts Open.
Rising star Rydz, a World Championship quarter-finalist in December, was the more clinical on the doubles as he dumped out world number one Wright, who is without a ranking title win since February.
Having trailed 3-2, Rydz reeled off four successive legs to progress to Sunday’s Finals Day where Stephen Bunting awaits in the last 16, after he also ran out a 6-3 winner against Ross Smith.
Michael van Gerwen began his bid to retain the title in battling style, defying a 170 checkout from Cameron Menzies to claim a 6-3 win on the Premstättner Halle stage.
The Dutchman, seeking his second European Tour success of the year, led 3-0 before Menzies’ maximum finish helped cut the gap to one leg.
However, the Scot missed two darts to level in leg six and was punished as Van Gerwen regained a lead he would not relinquish.
Van Gerwen will open Sunday’s final stages with a tasty third round tie against James Wade, after Thursday’s Cazoo Premier League winner in Dublin defeated Brett Claydon 6-3.
Austrian hopes on the final day will rest on qualifier Zoran Lerchbacher, who delighted his home crowd with a 6-3 defeat of Ryan Searle.
Lerchbacher now faces Dirk van Duijvenbode after the Dutchman finished six doubles from 11 attempts to see off another Austrian, Rowby-John Rodriguez.
Another mouth-watering third round tie sees UK Open champion Danny Noppert meet Premier League champion Jonny Clayton.
Dutchman Noppert overcame Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-3, while Clayton was a hard-fought 6-4 winner in his second round tie with Jeffrey De Zwaan.
Masters champion Joe Cullen finished six doubles from 11 attempts and took out 152 as he survived Jim Williams’ fightback from 3-0 down before claiming a 6-4 success.
Cullen now meets Krzysztof Ratajski after the former Gibraltar Darts Trophy winner returned to European Tour action in style with a 101 average in whitewashing Austrian qualifier Patrik Gosnak.
Recent German Darts Grand Prix winner Luke Humphries was knocked out in round two in Graz as Danny Jansen punished ten missed doubles in a 6-2 success.
Jansen will now face Ricky Evans, who held leads of 4-0 and 5-2 before closing out victory over Damon Heta.
Madars Razma also enjoyed victory over a seeded player as he finished 6/12 doubles in his 6-3 win over Jose de Sousa, setting him up for a meeting with Nathan Aspinall after the former UK Open champion’s clinical 6-3 win over Wesley Plaisier.
Germany’s Gabriel Clemens claimed his second win of the weekend by seeing off Brendan Dolan 6-3 to book a last 16 place where he will take on Rob Cross, who impressed in a 6-2 win over Josh Rock.
The tournament concludes on Sunday, with the afternoon session’s third round followed in the evening session by the decisive quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
The tournament is being broadcast live on PDCTV, exclusively on DAZN in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and through bookmakers’ websites worldwide.
2022 Interwetten Austrian Darts Open
Saturday April 30
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 Patrik Gosnak
Ricky Evans 6-3 Damon Heta
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Wesley Plaisier
Zoran Lerchbacher 6-3 Ryan Searle
Joe Cullen 6-4 Jim Williams
Gabriel Clemens 6-3 Brendan Dolan
Madars Razma 6-3 Jose de Sousa
Danny Noppert 6-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Evening Session
James Wade 6-3 Brett Claydon
Danny Jansen 6-2 Luke Humphries
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Cameron Menzies
Jonny Clayton 6-4 Jeffrey De Zwaan
Callan Rydz 6-3 Peter Wright
Rob Cross 6-2 Josh Rock
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Ross Smith
Sunday May 1
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Third Round
Danny Noppert v Jonny Clayton
Joe Cullen v Krzysztof Ratajski
Danny Jansen v Ricky Evans
Madars Razma v Nathan Aspinall
Zoran Lerchbacher v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Michael van Gerwen v James Wade
Gabriel Clemens v Rob Cross
Callan Rydz v Stephen Bunting
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1200 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Noppert/Clayton v Cullen/Ratajski
Jansen/Evans v Razma/Aspinall
Lerchbacher/Van Duijvenbode v Van Gerwen/Wade
Clemens/Cross v Rydz/Bunting
Semi-Finals
Final
