ADRIAN LEWIS began his bid to win a second PDC European Tour title in Sindelfingen with a 6-2 win over Stephen Bunting in the HappyBet European Darts Grand Prix on Friday.
World number four Lewis took on former Lakeside Champion Bunting in the tie of the first round at the Glaspalast, and prevailed in style to march into Saturday's last 32.
The pair shared the first two legs before Lewis landed a 180 in a superb 11-darter to edge 2-1 up, Bunting levelled in 14 darts and the Stoke ace moved back into the lead at 3-2.
Lewis then pounced on Bunting's misses to break throw and lead 4-2, hit tops again to lead by three legs before finishing 102 to complete the win.
Lewis now plays Ian White in the second round, in a repeat of the 2012 final the pair shared in Sindelfingen which remains the two-time World Champion's only previous European Tour win.
Steve West produced the day's best display of finishing with six doubles from seven attempts as he overcame Chris Dobey 6-2 with the aid of checkouts of 130 and 120 to set up a meeting with Michael Smith on Saturday.
Jan Dekker averaged a superb 108 as he saw off James Wilson 6-3, with a mid-game burst which featured two 11-darters, a 13-darter and a 122 bull finish proving crucial as the Dutchman progressed to play Alan Norris.
Dirk van Duijvenbode held off a superb fightback from Jermaine Wattimena to edge through to a meeting with Jelle Klaasen by taking a 6-5 win from their see-saw first round clash.
Van Duijvenbode raced into a 4-0 lead before seeing his fellow countryman hit back to level, and the pair shared the ninth and tenth leg before the youngster finally sealed victory on tops in leg 11.
Mark Webster overcame a stern challenge from German favourite Bernd Roith before claiming a 6-4 win to progress to face fellow left-hander James Wade on Saturday.
The former Lakeside Champion came from a leg down to lead 3-1 and 4-2, only for Roith to take out 136 and 93 as he levelled, but Webster pounced on missed doubles from his rival in the next two legs to complete the win.
Webster, though, admitted that he is continuing to battle against dartitis, saying: "I'm struggling with my release. At the minute I'm not enjoying my darts but you've got to play through it and I'll give it a go tomorrow."
There was something for the home crowd to cheer in the final game of the evening, as former World Youth Champion Max Hopp came from 3-0 down to beat Zoran Lerchbacher.
The 20-year-old has been struggling for form of late, but sealed a brilliant comeback with a morale-boosting 121 checkout to defeat the Austrian 6-4.
Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski reached the second round on the European Tour for the second time this year with a fine 6-4 defeat of Ireland's Steve Lennon, averaging 99.52 as he moves through to play Mensur Suljovic.
Finnish qualifier Ulf Ceder enjoyed a dream European Tour debut as he overcame former Sindelfingen winner Steve Beaton 6-2 in the tournament's opening fixture, and he now plays Spain's Cristo Reyes.
James Richardson and Matt Clark both finished six doubles from eight attempts as they defeated Paul Rowley and Germany's Rene Berndt respectively, while Joe Murnan saw off Host Nation Qualifier Gabriel Clemens 6-3.
Former World Youth Champion Keegan Brown will meet World Champion Michael van Gerwen following his 6-4 win over another Dutchman, Jeffrey de Graaf, with finishes of 118, 96 and 56 seeing the Isle of Wight ace turn around a 4-3 deficit.
"There's more pressure on Michael than there is on me because he's expected to win this," said Brown. "I've beaten him a couple of times so why not on stage this time?"
Rob Cross, a Players Championship winner earlier this year, enjoyed a 6-3 win over debutant Luke Woodhouse as he moves through to take on Australian star Simon Whitlock on Saturday.
Wales' Jonny Clayton was a 6-2 winner against Dutchman Christian Kist, averaging 97 as he set up a second round tie with Joe Cullen.
Belgian ace Dimitri Van den Bergh produced an impressive finale to defeat Mervyn King - another former Sindelfingen winner - 6-4 as he moves through to take on Gerwyn Price.
King led 3-1 and then edged 4-3 up as he searched for a second round spot, but Van den Bergh finished double five to level and then took out 68 and 76 for the win.
John Henderson survived an 11th-leg shoot-out against Ron Meulenkamp to move through to a meeting with Northern Ireland's Daryl Gurney in round two.
Scottish ace Henderson raced into leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before the left-hander finished 126 to level in leg eight, and the Dutchman shared the next two only to see the former German Darts Masters finalist be first to a double in the decider.
The 16 seeded players enter the action in Saturday's second round, with the tournament concluding on Sunday with the third round in the afternoon session and the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in the evening session.
The HappyBet European Darts Grand Prix will be broadcast online for PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide through www.livepdc.tv, and also streamed through a series of bookmakers' websites.
WATCH THE HAPPYBET EUROPEAN DARTS GRAND PRIX
PDCTV-HD - www.livepdc.tv for all PDCTV-HD Subscribers Worldwide
Live coverage with faster streams may be available at the following websites:
Bet365 - www.bet365.com - Worldwide
Betfair - www.betfair.com - Brazil, Denmark, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Wales
Betfred - www.betfred.com - England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
bwin - www.bwin.com - Worldwide
Fonbet - www.fonbet.com - Armenia, Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Ukraine
HappyBet - www.happybet.com - Germany
Marathonbet - www.betmarathon.com - Belarus, Russian Federation, Spain, Ukraine
Napoleon - www.napoleongames.be - Belgium
Sazka - www.sazka.cz/kurzove-sazky/ - Czech Republic
Unibet - www.unibet.com - Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom.
William Hill - www.williamhill.com - United Kingdom, Ireland, Russia, Spain, Sweden & Germany
Winlinebet - www.winlinebet.ru - Russia
LIVE STATS
Follow stats throughout the HappyBet European Darts Grand Prix via the PDC Live Scores Website
HappyBet European Darts Grand Prix
May 5-7, Glaspalast, Sindelfingen, Germany
Friday May 5
First Round
Afternoon Session
Ulf Ceder 6-2 Steve Beaton
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-4 Steve Lennon
James Richardson 6-2 Paul Rowley
Matt Clark 6-4 Rene Berndt
Rob Cross 6-3 Luke Woodhouse
Keegan Brown 6-4 Jeffrey de Graaf
Jonny Clayton 6-2 Christian Kist
Joe Murnan 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Evening Session
Jan Dekker 6-3 James Wilson
Steve West 6-2 Chris Dobey
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-5 Jermaine Wattimena
Mark Webster 6-4 Bernd Roith
Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 Mervyn King
Ron Meulenkamp 5-6 John Henderson
Stephen Bunting 2-6 Adrian Lewis
Max Hopp 6-4 Zoran Lerchbacher
Saturday May 6
Second Round
Afternoon Session (1pm-5pm local time, 12pm-4pm BST)
Alan Norris v Jan Dekker
Cristo Reyes v Ulf Ceder
Jelle Klaasen v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Simon Whitlock v Rob Cross
Dave Chisnall v Matt Clark
Joe Cullen v Jonny Clayton
Benito van de Pas v Joe Murnan
Kim Huybrechts v Max Hopp
Evening Session (7pm-11pm local time, 6pm-10pm BST)
James Wade v Mark Webster
Gerwyn Price v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Michael Smith v Steve West
Daryl Gurney v John Henderson
Mensur Suljovic v Krzysztof Ratajski
Peter Wright v James Richardson
Michael van Gerwen v Keegan Brown
Ian White v Adrian Lewis
Best of 11 legs.