Dirk van Duijvenbode booked a high-profile second-round clash with reigning champion Luke Humphries at the Gambrinus Czech Darts Open after edging past Cor Dekker 6-4 in Prague on Friday. The Dutchman raced into a 4-0 lead before resisting a determined comeback from the Norwegian to seal victory at the PVA Expo.
Van Duijvenbode was among 16 players to progress from round one and earn meetings with the seeded stars as the European Tour event began in the Czech capital. World Champion Luke Littler will take on Cameron Menzies, after the Scot defeated Ian White 6-3 with a 100.91 average.
“I’m buzzing to play, in my opinion, the best darts player in the world,” said Menzies.
“I’m a massive fan of Luke Humphries but I feel Littler right now is the man.
“To play him up here on this stage tomorrow will be an experience and I’m looking forward to it.”
Nathan Aspinall marked his return to PDC action with a 6-0 whitewash of Czech qualifier Jiri Brejcha, setting up a round two meeting with world number five James Wade.
“It felt good to be back up here after not playing for a while,” reflected Aspinall.
“The rhythm was awful, my throw was terrible; I could tell I hadn’t played darts for seven weeks.
“I need to be better tomorrow, otherwise I’ll get hammered by James.”
Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen will face Mike De Decker, who averaged 100.9 in his 6-3 win over Ritchie Edhouse.
“This week I changed back to my old set up and everything feels more comfortable,” said De Decker.
“We all know what Michael’s been through this year, I get along with him very well.
“We will see tomorrow, if the best version of Michael turns up I’m in for a tough task.”
Former champion Peter Wright, Krzysztof Ratajski and William O’Connor also advanced as the Prague action gathered momentum.
Source: PDC.TV
