Nathan Aspinall and Raymond van Barneveld progressed to round two of the German Darts Championship on Friday, on a night Dirk van Duijvenbode landed a nine-darter.

The highlight of the night saw Van Duijvenbode nail a superb nine-dart leg in Hildesheim against Karel Sedlacek.

The Dutchman conjured up the magical nine-darter in leg four of the contest, before following up a 116 finish with a match-winning 135 to win through a captivating affair against the Czech No 1.

Aspinall produced an exhibition of finishing in his 6-3 success against debutant Maximilian Czerwinski, converting 84, 85, 90, 99, 116 and 160 finishes to triumph with a 103 average and extend his lead at the top of the European Tour rankings.

Van Barneveld battled past host nation representative Kevin Troppmann to progress to a meeting with third-seed Jonny Clayton.

Joe Cullen will miss out on the European Championship for the first time in a decade following his 6-2 defeat to Ricky Evans, who will take on Josh Rock in what promises to be a quickfire contest.

German No 2 Ricardo Pietreczko will play reigning champion Peter Wright in a repeat of the 2023 final on Saturday afternoon, after overcoming Radek Szaganski in a hard-fought encounter.

However, 2019 winner Daryl Gurney suffered a chastening 6-2 defeat to Christian Kist, who reeled off six consecutive legs to book a showdown with sixth-seed Gerwyn Price on Saturday night.

Ryan Joyce was Friday afternoon’s stand-out performer, averaging 104.24 in his 6-2 victory over an impressive Justin Hood, which sets up an intriguing showdown against top-seed Stephen Bunting.

William O’Connor, who remains in the hunt for a European Championship place, beat Andrew Gilding 6-4 and his reward is a tussle against German No 1 Martin Schindler for a place in the last 16, with the Irishman needing to reach at least the semi-finals to preserve his qualification hopes.

Rob Cross is also yet to confirm his qualification, and the two-time European champion faces Cameron Menzies in round two, after the Scot defied Wesley Plaisier’s quickfire start to dump out the Dutchman.

Steve Lennon will lock horns with Australian No 1 Damon Heta, after averaging 97 to dispatch Swedish No 1 Jeffrey de Graaf and register his first European Tour victory of the campaign.

Luke Woodhouse is set to meet Danny Noppert in a battle of the recent European Tour finalists, after following up a 110 finish with a 13-darter to halt the resistance of Tom Bissell.

German Darts Championship

Friday October 17 (round one)

Afternoon Session
Cameron Menzies 6-4 Wesley Plaisier
Niels Zonneveld 6-2 Darius Labanauskas
Steve Lennon 6-2 Jeffrey de Graaf
Wessel Nijman 6-2 Martin Kramer
Ryan Joyce 6-2 Justin Hood
Luke Woodhouse 6-4 Tom Bissell
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-1 Felix Springer
William O’Connor 6-4 Andrew Gilding

Evening Session
Jermaine Wattimena 6-2 Keane Barry
Christian Kist 6-2 Daryl Gurney
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 Radek Szaganski
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-4 Karel Sedlacek
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 Kevin Troppmann
Ricky Evans 6-2 Joe Cullen
Gabriel Clemens 6-2 Tomislav Rosandic
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Maximilian Czerwinski

Saturday October 18 (round two)

Afternoon session (1200 BST)
Gian van Veen vs Zonneveld
Damon Heta vs Lennon
Danny Noppert vs Woodhouse
Ryan Searle vs Ratajski
Mike De Decker vs Nijman
Rob Cross vs Menzies
Peter Wright vs Pietreczko
Dave Chisnall vs Clemens

Evening session (1800 BST)
Ross Smith vs Aspinall
Jonny Clayton vs Van Barneveld
Gerwyn Price vs Kist
James Wade vs Wattimena
Chris Dobey vs Van Duijvenbode
Martin Schindler vs O’Connor
Josh Rock vs Evans
Stephen Bunting vs Joyce

Sunday October 19

Afternoon session (1200 BST)
Third round

Evening session (1800 BST)
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final

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