MICHAEL VAN GERWEN will begin his bid to win a second successive European Tour title against Nathan Aspinall or Steve Lennon in this weekend's German Darts Grand Prix.
The year's second £135,000 European Tour event will take place from Saturday March 31-Monday April 2, with Munich's Zenith hosting the 48-player event across the Easter period.
Having won last weekend's European Darts Open, Van Gerwen will be aiming to continue his brilliant start to the year's European Tour circuit when he enters against the winner of Saturday's first round opener between Aspinall and Lennon.
World number two Peter Wright, the European Darts Open runner-up, will face either Josh Payne or Austria's Michael Rasztovits in his opener.
World Champion Rob Cross will come up against either Jonny Clayton or Rene Berndt, who won one of the final four places in the event at Friday's Host Nation Qualifier in Munich.
Former World Youth Champion Max Hopp qualified and plays Rowby-John Rodriguez, World Cup ace Martin Schindler will play Chris Dobey and Maik Langendorf faces Keegan Brown after they also qualified on Friday.
James Wade will meet Latvia's Madars Razma, while two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis plays Yordi Meeuwisse and former Lakeside Champion Stephen Bunting meets Christian Goedl.
Dutchman Danny Noppert takes on Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski in another plum first round tie, with the winner progressing to take on Mensur Suljovic.
The 16 seeded players enter the tournament in Sunday's second round, with the tournament then concluding on Monday with the third round in the afternoon session and the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in the evening session.
The German Darts Grand Prix will be broadcast for all PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide, as well as via a series of bookmakers' websites.
Host Nation Qualifiers
HNQ1 Rene Berndt
HNQ2 Max Hopp
HNQ3 Martin Schindler
HNQ4 Maik Langendorf
2018 German Darts Grand Prix
Draw Bracket
Michael Smith (3) v Martin Schindler/Chris Dobey
Jelle Klaasen (14) v Madars Razma/James Wade
Mensur Suljovic (6) v Danny Noppert/Krzysztof Ratajski
Mervyn King (11) v Rowby-John Rodriguez/Max Hopp
Joe Cullen (7) v Adrian Lewis/Yordi Meeuwisse
Kim Huybrechts (10) v Steve West/Paul Rowley
Peter Wright (2) v Josh Payne/Michael Rasztovits
Kyle Anderson v Jermaine Wattimena/Alan Tabern
Rob Cross (4) v Jonny Clayton/Rene Berndt
Gerwyn Price (13) v Luke Humphries/William O'Connor
Daryl Gurney (5) v Ryan Meikle/Scott Taylor
Ian White (12) v Stephen Bunting/Christian Goedl
Simon Whitlock (8) v Maik Langendorf/Keegan Brown
Dave Chisnall (9) v Darren Webster/Jan Dekker
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Nathan Aspinall/Steve Lennon
Alan Norris (16) v James Wilson/Toni Alcinas
Schedule of Play
Saturday March 31
First Round
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
Luke Humphries v William O'Connor
Rowby-John Rodriguez v Max Hopp
Danny Noppert v Krzysztof Ratajski
Nathan Aspinall v Steve Lennon
Maik Langendorf v Keegan Brown
Ryan Meikle v Scott Taylor
Steve West v Paul Rowley
Darren Webster v Jan Dekker
ORDER OF PLAY UPDATED 9PM FRIDAY FOLLOWING TRAVEL ISSUES FOR SOME PLAYERS TRAVELLING TO GERMANY.
Evening Session (7.15pm local time, 6.15pm BST)
Madars Razma v James Wade
Jermaine Wattimena v Alan Tabern
Josh Payne v Michael Rasztovits
Martin Schindler v Chris Dobey
James Wilson v Toni Alcinas
Stephen Bunting v Christian Goedl
Jonny Clayton v Rene Berndt
Adrian Lewis v Yordi Meeuwisse
Sunday April 1
Second Round
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
Gerwyn Price v Humphries/O'Connor
Dave Chisnall v Webster/Dekker
Kim Huybrechts v West/Rowley
Mervyn King v Rodriguez/Hopp
Kyle Anderson v Wattimena/Tabern
Simon Whitlock v Langendorf/Brown
Alan Norris v Wilson/Alcinas
Daryl Gurney v Meikle/Taylor
Evening Session (7.15pm local time, 6.15pm BST)
Joe Cullen v Lewis/Meeuwisse
Ian White v Bunting/Goedl
Jelle Klaasen v Razma/Wade
Michael Smith v Schindler/Dobey
Peter Wright v Payne/Rasztovits
Mensur Suljovic v Noppert/Ratajski
Michael van Gerwen v Aspinall/Lennon
Rob Cross v Clayton/Berndt
Monday April 2
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
Third Round
Evening Session (7.15pm local time, 6.15pm BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
Monday's games played in Draw Bracket order.
All games up to and including the quarter-finals are the best of 11 legs, with the semi-finals the best of 13 legs and the final the best of 15 legs.
Watch Online
PDC European Tour events can be watched online by all PDCTV-HD Subscribers worldwide.
Live coverage with faster streams may also be available at the following bookmakers' 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
Ligastavok - www.ligastavok.ru/ - Russia
Marathonbet - www.betmarathon.com - Belarus, Russian federation, Spain, Ukraine
Napoleonbet - www.en-gb.sports.napoleongames.be - Belgium
Nike - www.nike.sk - Slovakia
Paddy Power - www.paddypower.com/ - England, Ireland, Northern ireland, Scotland, Wales
Stoiximan - www.stoiximan.gr - Cyprus, Greece, Romania
Superbet - www.superbet.ro/ - Romania, Poland
Tempobet - www.tempobet.org - Europe
Tipsport - www.tipsport.cz - Czech Republic & Slovakia
Unibet - www.unibet.com - Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom
Winlinebet - www.winlinebet.ru - Russia