Five Team Unicorn stars are through to the last 16 of the German Darts Championship.
Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld were joined by Wes Newton, Terry Jenkins and Kevin Painter in Berlin.
Barney swept past Alan Tabern 6-3 and he looked relaxed and enjoying his darts, but a 103 average and back-to-back 11 darters to take charge of the match. The Dutchman will play Mark Webster in round three.
“I switched my flights,” he revealed. “I changed from slim to sigma flights which was a bit of a risk but I did ok. I will have to play better against Mark. I beat him at the same stage in the Austrian European event so hopefully I can do the same here!”
Taylor was a 6-2 winner against talented youngster Reece Robinson, as he posted a 107 average and he brought the crowd to its feet with a brilliant 170 check out along the way...next up for ‘The Power’ is Colin Lloyd.
Jenkins looked very impressive! He beat John Part 6-2 with a classy 100 average and twice he was on for a 9-darter! He hit seven perfect darts – just missing the T19 – and in another leg, he banged in six perfect darts....but he heads into Sunday in Germany in confident mood, when he will play Dave Chisnall.
Painter reached the last 16 with a hard fought 6-4 victory over Dave Ladley. At four apiece, ‘The Artist’ found something extra with a 14 darter to move ahead and he won it with a 115 finish to set up a clash with Simon Whitlock.
Wes Newton will face Irishman Micky Mansell, who punished Dean Winstanley for missed doubles by pinching a last leg decider. But the Unicorn man was far more convincing as he swept aside the challenge of Steve Brown 6-2. Newton raced into a 4-0 lead and hit five 180s as he averaged 98.
Defeats though, for Team Unicorn players Paul Nicholson, Colin Osborne and Michael Rosenauer on Saturday in Berlin...
The pressure of the situation may have got to the German in front of a partisan home crowd and he never got going against Chisnall....Rosenauer averaged just 81 as his opponent reached a brilliant 108.35 in a dominant display.
Osborne blew chance after chance against Mark Webster.....nine legs were won on throw, before the Welshman broke to claim a 6-4 victory. Osborne averaged only 87 because of all those missed doubles.
Nicholson had no answer to an excellent all round performance from Colin Lloyd. From 2-2, Lloyd upped his average to 101 and finishes 80, 85, 72, 88 and then 96 to win it.
Saturday 2nd Round results:
Wayne Jones 3-6 Mervyn King
Kevin Painter 6-4 Dave Ladley
Dean Winstanley 5-6 Micky Mansell
Mark Webster 6-4 Colin Osborne
Paul Nicholson 2-6 Colin Lloyd
Wes Newton 6-2 Steve Brown
Simon Whitlock 6-5 Brendan Dolan
Vincent van der Voort 5-6 Ronnie Baxter
Terry Jenkins 6-2 John Part
Michael Barnard 5-6 Co Stompe
Justin Pipe 6-4 Andy Smith
James Hubbard 6-3 Peter Wright
Michael Rosenauer 1-6 Dave Chisnall
Phil Taylor 6-2 Reece Robinson
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 Alan Tabern
Mensur Suljovic 3-6 Kim Huybrechts
Sunday 3rd Round:
Phil Taylor v Colin Lloyd
Raymond van Barneveld v Mark Webster
Wes Newton v Micky Mansell
Co Stompe v Justin Pipe
James Hubbard v Mervyn King
Dave Chisnall v Terry Jenkins
Simon Whitlock v Kevin Painter
Kim Huybrechts v Ronnie Baxter
Meanwhile, the draw has also been made for the next big European Tour event......that is the European Darts Open, which takes place in Dusseldorf from July 6-8.
Phil Taylor has opted out of the tournament, so James Wade is now the No.2 seed and he will play Sweden’s Magnus Caris, while Gary Anderson is promoted to the No.3 seed and has been drawn against Scott Rand.
In all, 13 Team Unicorn stars will be in action in Dusseldorf.....Raymond van Barneveld takes on Ian White, Andy Hamilton faces James Hubbard, Paul Nicholson plays Kim Huybrechts and Wes Newton is up against Steve Maish.
There is an all Unicorn clash between Terry Jenkins and Joe Cullen, while Arron Monk meets Steve Brown and Devon Petersen takes on Ronnie Baxter....Kevin Painter plays Ryan de Vreede, Colin Osborne clashes with Jim Walker and Jamie Caven will face Brian Woods.
By STUART PYKE
Photo courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC