ROWBY-JOHN RODRIGUEZ and Mensur Suljovic delighted their home crowd with victories in the first round of the Austrian Darts Open on Friday.
Rodriguez overcame Dutch player Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 to set-up a second round clash against Premier League ace Robert Thornton, whilst Suljovic was pushed all the way by Dennis Smith before claiming victory in the final leg of the match at the Salzburg Arena.
Rodriguez started with a bang with a 120 checkout to take the opening leg and then quickly raced into a 3-0 lead.
Van Duijvenbode bounced back by winning the fourth leg, but then the World Youth Championship runner-up claimed the next two legs including a superb 152 finish in leg six to leave the 20-year-old one leg away from victory.
The seventh and eighth legs saw Rodriguez miss vital doubles to secure the match, but he wasn’t to be denied by wrapping up the win in the ninth leg.
Suljovic on the other hand was pushed all the way by Dennis Smith to set-up a second round tie against the number ten seed Ian White. The Austrian took the opening leg of the match to raise the roof of the Salzburg Arena, but Smith didn’t let that affect him by winning the next three legs.
Suljovic then replied with a bang winning three legs on the bounce and race into a 4-3 lead, before Smith levelled the match in leg eight. The next two legs went with the darts leaving a final leg decider on the Suljovic throw.
The Austrian was first to the double, but three missed doubles left the door open for Smith, who then failed to capitalise by missing double 16 to finish 108, and Suljovic finally secured his progression in the tournament by claiming the final leg of the match with double ten.
Elsewhere in the opening round of the Austrian Darts Open, Vincent van der Voort nearly brought the roof down in the opening leg of his match against Christian Kist as he hit eight perfect darts and narrowly missed double 12 for a magical nine-dart finish.
Van der Voort went on to average 99.76 to overcome Kist to set-up a second round tie against Justin Pipe.
Alex Roy will face Phil Taylor in round two after overcoming Jamie Lewis 6-3 in his opening match, and John Henderson’s 6-4 win over Michael Rasztovits sees the Scot progress to meet Simon Whitlock for a place in the third round.
The performance of the opening round saw Michael Smith hit four maximums and average 114.15 in his 6-0 demolition of David Pallett, taking less than 11 minutes to complete a brilliant display.
The former World Youth Champion now takes on Peter Wright in the second round, whilst Stephen Bunting will take on number five seed Dave Chisnall following his 6-1 victory over Arron Monk.
A masterclass from Terry Jenkins saw him ease past Max Hopp to reach the second round. Jenkins averaged 108.5 and hit three ton plus finishes in his demolition job over Hopp, and the 50-year-old now meets Jamie Caven for a place in round three.
Coverage of the tournament will be streamed live through the Bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes, Unibet and William Hill websites, and outside of the UK & Ireland through www.LIVEPDC.TV .
Live Coverage
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William Hill - www.williamhill.com
To view live coverage, fans must be registered with the respective website listed above
LIVEPDC.TV - www.LIVEPDC.TV for all subscribers outside of the UK & Ireland.
Live Scores will be available through the PDC Live Scores Website, http://live.dartsdata.com .
Austrian Darts Open
First Round
Friday June 20 (3pm-11pm local time)
Ben Ward 6-4 Barrie Bates
Kevin Dowling 3-6 Andy Smith
Dirk van Duijvenbode 3-6 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Dennis Smith 5-6 Mensur Suljovic
Mark Walsh 4-6 Andrew Gilding
William O'Connor 5-6 Benito van de Pas
Vincent van der Voort 6-2 Christian Kist
John Part 6-5 Marko Kantele
Jamie Lewis 3-6 Alex Roy
Bernd Roith 6-1 Salmon Renyaan
John Henderson 6-4 Michael Rasztovits
Michael Smith 6-0 David Pallett
Mark Webster 4-6 Ronnie Baxter
Arron Monk 1-6 Stephen Bunting
Terry Jenkins 6-2 Max Hopp
Dean Winstanley 6-1 Uwe Bacher