SSeven Germans had qualified for the UK Open in Minehead, only one is still there after the first day. Martin Schindler meets two-time world champion Adrian Lewis from England in the round of 32 on Saturday (live on DAZN and Sport1).
The Strausberger made the duel possible with an overall sovereign victory over veteran Simon Whitlock. Schindler, as 27th of the Order of Merit, automatically qualified for the fourth round, got the break to make it 4:2 and took the next throw from his opponent. Shortly thereafter he checked on double 11 to make it a comfortable 7:2. After Whitlock’s 3:7 at the break, “The Wall” needed a little after the restart to get back on track. The German conceded the 4:7 and 5:7, but stabilized again and had match darts at the score of 9:6. Missing his four attempts at double 20 and double 10, the Australian was able to go back 7-9 before Schindler started the 17th leg with six perfect darts and checked 77 points over triple 7s, 16s and tops. His average ended up being 95.80 points.
Previously, four Germans had been eliminated with Lukas Wenig and Pascal Rupprecht (both 1st round), as well as Ricardo Pietreczko and Daniel Klose (both 2nd round). Next up was the national number one. In the only tournament played without a seed list, Gabriel Clemens was drawn number eleven in the world with Dimitri van den Bergh. Except for a high finish of 144 points to make it 3:6, the “German Giant” hardly had a chance to shine against the Belgian, who started furiously with two 12-darters, despite an average of 97.38 points.
Florian Hempel had significantly more chances of making it into the 5th round. When the man from Cologne had made the break to 9: 6 perfectly, the decision seemed to have been made against the Welshman Richie Burnett. But the 32-year-old German completely lost his focus from then on, hardly hitting any triples and instead made several excursions into the 1.5 or 3. Legs 16, 17, 18 and 19 all went to his experienced opponent, the one in the weak one At the end of the duel, a point average of 79.95 was enough to surprisingly make it into the next round. Hempel, who will be fighting to get his tour card for a long time this season, would have taken a bit of pressure for the coming weeks with a further £2,500 in prize money.
Vincent van der Voort must have been even more annoyed than Hempel. A 9:5 was not enough for the Dutchman to win against Brenadan Dolan. The Australian Damon Heta, on the other hand, failed at Schindler last weekend in Kiel, equalized a 4:9 against Luke Humphries, who then made it over the finish line in 14 darts in the decider.
Shooting star Josh Rock experienced a surprise. The 21-year-old Northern Irishman lost his opening match in round three against Englishman Luke Woodhouse. A no-look 180 was the only highlight in the clear 2:6 defeat of the World Cup round of 16. Nathan Aspinall was able to prevent another surprise in his fourth round match against Alan Soutar. The number ten in the world hit the last of his three attempts on double 16 in the decider to make it 10:9. His opponent had been lurking with 28 points remaining. In general, the “FA Cup of Darts” was extremely close. Nine of the 32 fourth-round matches went into the decisive 19th leg.
UK Open, 4. Runde
Ryan Searle (ENG) – Chris Dobey (ENG) 6:10
Adam Gawlas (CZE) – Luke Littler (ENG) 10:8
Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL) – Gabriel Clemens (D) 10:5
Martin Lukeman (ENG) – Kevin Doets (NED) 9:10
Jose De Sousa (POR) – Darius Labanauskas (LIT) 10:8
Danny Jansen (NED) – Jeffrey De Zwaan (NED) 9:10
Jermaine Wattimena (NED) – William O‘Connor (IRL) 1:10
Adrian Lewis (ENG) – Matt Campbell (CAN) 10:4
Luke Woodhouse (ENG) – Jelle Klaasen (ENG) 10:2
Martin Schindler (D) – Simon Whitlock (AUS) 10:7
Florian Hempel (D) – Richie Burnett (WAL) 9:10
Joe Cullen (ENG) – Dylan Slevin (IRL) 10:7
Mervyn King (ENG) – Keane Barry (IRL) 10:7
Nathan Aspinall (ENG) – Alan Soutar (SCO) 10:9
Rob Cross (ENG) – Raymond van Barneveld (NL) 10:9
Mensur Suljovic (AUT) – Karel Sedlacek (CZE) 4:10
Kim Huybrechts (BEL) – Mike De Decker (BEL) 10:8
Michael van Gerwen (ENG) – Dave Chisnall (ENG) 10:8
Jonny Clayton (WAL) – Ross Smith (ENG) 10:9
Daryl Gurney (NIR) – Callan Rydz (ENG) 7:10
Martijn Kleermaker (NL) – George Killington (ENG) 10:6
Nathan Rafferty (NIR) – Ted Evetts (ENG) 8:10
Steve Beaton (ENG) – Rowby-John Rodriguez (AUT) 10:4
Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED) – Krzysztof Ratajski (POL) 10:8
Danny Noppert (NED) – Jim Williams (WAL) 10:8
Michael Smith (ENG) – Ian White (ENG) 10:4
Gerwyn Price (WAL) – Thomas Banks (ENG) 10:3
Andrew Gilding (ENG) – Ricky Evans (ENG) 10:5
Peter Wright (SCO) – Stephen Bunting (ENG) 10:9
Vincent van der Voort (NED) – Brendan Dolan (NIR) 9:10
James Wade (ENG) – Gary Anderson (SCO) 8:10
Luke Humphries (ENG) – Damon Here (AUS) 10:9
UK Open, 5. Runde
Martin Schindler (D) – Adrian Lewis (ENG)
Ted Evetts (ENG) – Richie Burnett (WAL)
Chris Dobey (ENG) – Brendan Dolan (NIR)
Adam Gawlas (CZE) – Kevin Doets (NED)
Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL) – Mervyn King (ENG)
Joe Cullen (ENG) – Karel Sedlacek (CZE)
Nathan Aspinall (ENG) – Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED)
Michael van Gerwen (NED) – Martijn Kleermaker (NED)
Jonny Clayton (WAL) – Jose De Sousa (POR)
Steve Beaton (ENG) – Rob Cross (ENG)
Danny Noppert (NED) – William O’Connor (IRL)
Michael Smith (ENG) – Luke Humphries (ENG)
Gerwyn Price (WAL) – Jeffrey De Zwaan (NED)
Andrew Gilding (ENG) – Luke Woodhouse (ENG)
Peter Wright (SCO) – Callan Rydz (ENG)
Gary Anderson (SCO) – Kim Huybrechts (BEL)
