MENSUR SULJOVIC raised the roof of the Salzburg Arena with a 6-4 win over Robert Thornton in the third round of the Austrian Darts Open as he maintained his hopes of claiming European Tour glory on home soil by progressing to the quarter-.
The victory for Suljovic saw the Austrian extend his impressive record over Thornton, having beaten the Scot in a previous Players Championship and also at the last 32 stage of the Coral UK Open in March.
The opening four legs of the match went with the darts, but a 116 finish for Suljovic in the fifth leg saw the Austrian break the throw of Thornton and send the crowd wild before legs six and seven went with the darts to leave the match finely poised at 4-3.
Thornton then had the perfect chance to break back, but a missed dart at double 12 allowed Suljovic back to the board to check out 91 in the eighth leg. The ninth saw the home crowd try their hardest to see their man over the line, but two missed darts at double top to win the match allowed Thornton to hit back.
The tenth leg saw Suljovic delight the home support wrapping up the victory with a 78 checkout, and he now takes on the birthday boy Andy Smith, who progressed to the last eight with a 6-2 win over Ronnie Baxter.
The opening match of the third round saw Vincent van der Voort extend his impressive run in the Austrian Darts Open with a 6-1 win over the number three seed Brendan Dolan.
The Dutchman now takes on John Part in the quarter-finals after the Canadian legend overcame emerging youngster Benito van de Pas 6-4 in his third round match.
Phil Taylor averaged 102.35 in his third round victory over fellow Premier League player Simon Whitlock and now takes on Jamie Caven for a place in the semi-finals, after the Derby ace overcame Stephen Bunting 6-5 in the match of the third round.
The final quarter-final sees Peter Wright take on Wes Newton, after Wright saw off Steve Beaton 6-3 and Newton overcame Dean Winstanley 6-3.
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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Live Scores will be available through the PDC Live Scores Website, http://live.dartsdata.com.
Austrian Darts Open
Third Round
Brendan Dolan 1-6 Vincent van der Voort
Benito van de Pas 4-6 John Part
Robert Thornton 4-6 Mensur Suljovic
Andy Smith 6-2 Ronnie Baxter
Phil Taylor 6-3 Simon Whitlock
Stephen Bunting 5-6 Jamie Caven
Peter Wright 6-3 Steve Beaton
Dean Winstanley 3-6 Wes Newton
All games are the best of 11 legs