Andreas Harrysson produced a sensational display to demolish Michael Smith and create his own slice of history on Day Two at the Elten Safety Shoes European Darts Open.
Harrysson followed up his opening round victory over Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld with victory over another World Champion in Smith, averaging exactly 106 to storm to a 6-1 success.
The enigmatic Swede fired in a brace of 11-darters and converted 126 and 101 checkouts in successive legs, as he progressed to the last 16 of a European Tour event for the first time.
“What just happened?” reflected a shell-shocked Harrysson, who will feature in next weekend’s Nordic Darts Masters.
“I’m so pleased with that performance. It’s a dream to play like that on the big stage in front of this fantastic crowd.”
Saturday’s action saw 16 second round matches take place in Leverkusen, as top seed Stephen Bunting made a sprint for the finish to run out a 6-3 winner against Luke Woodhouse.
Bunting averaged almost 101 and reeled off three straight legs in 13, 11 and 14 darts to record his 11th straight victory over Woodhouse, which sets up a fascinating showdown against Daryl Gurney.
Gurney produced one of his best performances on the European Tour to overcome World Youth Champion Gian van Veen, averaging 107.2 and converting all six of his attempts at double.
Jonny Clayton began his bid for back-to-back European Tour titles with a 6-4 victory against Jermaine Wattimena, as the pair crashed in seven 180s apiece in a quick-fire affair.
Clayton’s reward is a tie against World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker – who averaged 101 to defeat Ryan Joyce – while Ritchie Edhouse averaged north of 102 to sweep aside Danny Noppert 6-2.
The European Champion will take on Cameron Menzies in his last 16 clash, after Menzies launched another fightback to dump out defending champion Dave Chisnall in a decider.
Peter Wright kicked off his quest for a third European Darts Open crown with a comeback victory of his own, overturning 3-0 and 5-3 deficits before surviving match darts to punish Darryl Pilgrim.
However, Gary Anderson was unable to complete the Scottish clean-sweep in Leverkusen, succumbing 6-4 to an in-form Wessel Nijman, who now plays Wright for a place in the last eight.
Ricardo Pietreczko toppled his World Cup partner Martin Schindler in a battle between Germany’s top two players, which moves him further clear in the race for World Matchplay qualification.
Fresh from his semi-final defeat in Thursday’s Premier League Play-Offs, Nathan Aspinall enjoyed a winning return to action, battling his way through a gruelling affair against Bradley Brooks.
Damon Heta came agonisingly close to achieving perfection during his 6-2 thrashing of Mickey Mansell, missing double 12 for a nine-darter in the third leg of the contest.
Chris Dobey celebrated his 35th birthday with a deciding-leg victory over home favourite Niko Springer, recovering from 4-1 adrift and surviving multiple match darts in the decider.
Dobey will face Andrew Gilding for a place in the quarter-finals, after the former UK Open champion also won through a last-leg shoot-out against Ryan Searle.
Elsewhere, James Wade raced through to the last 16 with a whitewash win over Lukas Wenig, and he will now go head-to-head with Matt Campbell, who eased past a below-par Ross Smith 6-2 in Saturday's opener.
The third round will take place on Sunday afternoon at the Ostermann-Arena, before the tournament concludes with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in a blockbuster evening session.
Live coverage from Finals Day at the European Darts Open will be streamed on DAZN for viewers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and through the DAZN Darts channel on Pluto TV.
Coverage will also be shown on PDCTV (excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and through bookmakers' worldwide.
Click here for match stats & results.
Elten Safety Shoes European Darts Open
Saturday May 31
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Matt Campbell 6-2 Ross Smith
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Ryan Searle
Damon Heta 6-2 Mickey Mansell
Ritchie Edhouse 6-2 Danny Noppert
Cameron Menzies 6-5 Dave Chisnall
Wessel Nijman 6-4 Gary Anderson
Mike De Decker 6-3 Ryan Joyce
Daryl Gurney 6-2 Gian van Veen
Evening Session
Chris Dobey 6-5 Niko Springer
James Wade 6-0 Lukas Wenig
Peter Wright 6-5 Darryl Pilgrim
Jonny Clayton 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Andreas Harrysson 6-1 Michael Smith
Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Bradley Brooks
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-4 Martin Schindler
Stephen Bunting 6-3 Luke Woodhouse
Sunday June 1
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Third Round
James Wade v Matt Campbell
Damon Heta v Andreas Harrysson
Cameron Menzies v Ritchie Edhouse
Jonny Clayton v Mike De Decker
Nathan Aspinall v Ricardo Pietreczko
Chris Dobey v Andrew Gilding
Peter Wright v Wessel Nijman
Stephen Bunting v Daryl Gurney
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
Sunday’s games played in Draw Bracket order