Durrant faces Van den Bergh in bwin World Series Finals opener

Glen Durrant & Dimitri Van den Bergh (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

Glen Durrant and Dimitri Van den Bergh will clash in the tie of the first round at the bwin World Series of Darts Finals next weekend, while Fallon Sherrock makes her big-stage return against Jeff Smith.

The 24-player event will be the PDC's first to be staged in front of a live crowd at the Salzburgarena in Austria from September 18-20.

With the world's top eight players seeded through to the second round, Friday's first round action will feature the 12 invited players from around the world alongside four qualifiers.

The draw has thrown up a tasty first round tie between Premier League leader Durrant and World Matchplay champion Van den Bergh - with the winner to take on reigning champion and world number one Michael van Gerwen.

World Champion Peter Wright will take on the winner of the first round tie between 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters champion Damon Heta and Ian White, while world number three Gerwyn Price plays Vincent van der Voort or Joe Cullen.

Fallon Sherrock (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

Sherrock, who made history as the first woman to win a game at the PDC World Championship last December, will play Canada's Jeff Smith - the former North American Championship winner - in another eagerly-awaited first round tie, with the winner facing 2018 World Series of Darts Finals champion James Wade.

Austria's Mensur Suljovic will be banking on home support as he takes on Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski on Friday night, while Lithuania's Darius Labanauskas takes on emerging English ace Harry Ward.

Australia's Simon Whitlock will play Steve Beaton, while top New Zealander Cody Harris takes on Dave Chisnall.

Following Friday's first round, the eight seeds will enter in Saturday's second round at the Salzburgarena.

Sunday's decisive final day will see the quarter-finals held in the afternoon session, with the semi-finals and final in the evening session.

Van Gerwen has won four of the previous five stagings of the World Series of Darts Finals since the event was introduced in 2015, with Wade interrupting that run of success with his 2018 triumph.

Tickets for the bwin World Series of Darts Finals are available from PDC Europe through this link.

The event will be shown on ITV4 in the UK, with worldwide coverage through RTL7, DAZN and other PDC broadcast partners accompanied live streaming for PDCTV Rest of the World Subscribers.

bwin World Series of Darts Finals
First Round - Draw Bracket Order

Glen Durrant v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Jeff Smith v Fallon Sherrock
Krzysztof Ratajski v Mensur Suljovic
Simon Whitlock v Steve Beaton
Ian White v Damon Heta
Cody Harris v Dave Chisnall
Vincent van der Voort v Joe Cullen
Harry Ward v Darius Labanauskas

Second Round - Draw Bracket Order
(1) Michael van Gerwen v Durrant/Van den Bergh
(8) James Wade v J Smith/Sherrock
(4) Michael Smith v Ratajski/Suljovic
(5) Rob Cross v Whitlock/Beaton
(2) Peter Wright v White/Heta
(7) Daryl Gurney v Harris/Chisnall
(3) Gerwyn Price v Van der Voort/Cullen
(6) Nathan Aspinall v Ward/Labanauskas

The schedule of play will be confirmed in due course.