Raymond van Barneveld sealed his return to the Betfred World Matchplay for the first time in five years with victory on the opening day of the Interwetten European Darts Matchplay in Trier on Friday.
Van Barneveld claimed a 6-3 win over George Killington in the first round of the European Tour event, which was enough to book his return to Blackpool's iconic Winter Gardens in July.
The 2010 World Matchplay runner-up will now face old rival Michael van Gerwen in a mouth-watering second round clash between the two Dutch giants on Saturday night.
"This was a vital win for me in my quest to qualify for the big TV events later this year," said Van Barneveld, who returned to the professional circuit in 2021.
"I want to qualify for the World Matchplay, the World Grand Prix, the European Championship, so this is one of my goals achieved for this year.
"I will have to play much better to do anything against Michael in the next round, I will need to put a few points on my average.
"The game is there; in practice I was hitting 180s and 140s but on stage I hit too may 60s, so that's something I need to sort out for tomorrow."
The opening day of the £175,000 event saw 16 first round ties take place at Arena Trier, as players jostled for position in the race to Blackpool.
Heading into Saturday's second round, three ProTour Order of Merit qualification places remain unsettled, currently occupied by Steve Beaton, Brendan Dolan and Kim Huybrechts.
Dolan strengthened his chances of a ninth World Matchplay appearance with a 6-2 defeat of Connor Scutt, while Huybrechts suffered a 6-2 loss at the hands of Keane Barry.
Barry is among the chasing pack for qualification places, with world number one Michael Smith up next for the Irish youngster in round two.
Beaton, like Huybrechts, also faces an anxious wait on his Blackpool chances, having not qualified for this weekend's event.
German prospect Ricardo Pietreczko and world number 26 Callan Rydz also strengthened their chances with wins over Fabian Herz and Stephen Burton respectively.
However, the qualification hopes of Simon Whitlock, William O'Connor, Luke Woodhouse and Matt Campbell were all ended with defeat on the opening day in Trier.
Emerging Dutch star Gian van Veen and Czech newcomer Vitezslav Sedlak impressed with ton-plus averages in their wins over Christian Kist and Daniel Klose respectively.
Germany's recent World Cup semi-finalist Gabriel Clemens raised the roof with a 6-3 defeat of Jose de Sousa, his first victory over the Portuguese number one in four years.
Elsewhere, there were victories for UK Open champion Andrew Gilding, Martin Lukeman, Ryan Joyce and Marko Kantele.
The 16 seeded players enter the tournament in Saturday’s second round, with World Champion Smith, world number three Van Gerwen and top seed Luke Humphries amongst the top stars in action.
The tournament is being broadcast live on Viaplay, DAZN and PDCTV (excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and through bookmakers' websites worldwide.
Click here for results & match stats.
2023 Interwetten European Darts Matchplay
Friday June 30
First Round
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Ryan Joyce 6-1 Ted Evetts
Vitezslav Sedlak 6-3 Daniel Klose
Gian van Veen 6-3 Christian Kist
Martin Lukeman 6-4 Graham Hall
Brendan Dolan 6-2 Connor Scutt
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Darryl Pilgrim
Mickey Mansell 6-3 Matt Campbell
Callan Rydz 6-3 Stephen Burton
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Marko Kantele 6-2 Liam Maendl-Lawrance
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-0 Fabian Herz
Keane Barry 6-2 Kim Huybrechts
James Wade 6-1 William O'Connor
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 George Killington
Gabriel Clemens 6-3 Jose de Sousa
James Wilson 6-2 Simon Whitlock
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Luke Woodhouse
Saturday July 1
Second Round
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Dave Chisnall v Ryan Joyce
Josh Rock v Brendan Dolan
Rob Cross v Mickey Mansell
Damon Heta v Gian van Veen
Nathan Aspinall v Martin Lukeman
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Andrew Gilding
Joe Cullen v Vitezslav Sedlak
Ross Smith v Stephen Bunting
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Jonny Clayton v James Wade
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Ricardo Pietreczko
Ryan Searle v Gabriel Clemens
Michael van Gerwen v Raymond van Barneveld
Michael Smith v Keane Barry
Luke Humphries v Marko Kantele
Martin Schindler v Callan Rydz
Danny Noppert v James Wilson
Sunday July 2
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Third Round
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
Sunday’s matches played in draw bracket order