Woodhouse, Rock and Penhall enjoy opening day whitewash wins at the European Darts Open

Luke Woodhouse, Josh Rock and Darren Penhall each enjoyed whitewash wins in Round One of the 2022 European Darts Open in Leverkusen on Friday.

Woodhouse produced a personal record average of 109.98 in an empathic 6-0 rout of Mickey Mansell in the stand-out performance of the opening day at the Ostermann Arena.

Woodhouse finished six doubles from seven attempts in a dominant display, limiting Mansell to just two darts at a double as he set up a Second Round tie with top seed Gerwyn Price on Saturday.

“I felt really good,” said Woodhouse. “Practice didn’t go so well, but I felt really comfortable up on the stage and the crowd was amazing – it went really well.

“Obviously Gezzy is an unbelievable player so I’m going to have to perform like that tomorrow then you never know.

“I’ve got all the respect in the world for Gezzy so we’ll see what happens.”

Penhall was another whitewash winner, with Luc Peters being afforded only one dart at a double in their tie as a 100 average set up the Englishman for a meeting with recent German Darts Grand Prix winner Luke Humphries.

Northern Irish youngster Rock powered past Connor Scutt 6-0 to continue his blistering spell of form, and will now face Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski in Round Two.

German Darts Grand Prix runner-up Martin Lukeman saw his hopes of another strong run on the European Tour ended with a 6-3 loss to Dennis Nilsson, with the Swedish qualifier now set to face Jose de Sousa.

Daryl Gurney took out 78 in the deciding leg of his tie with fellow Northern Irishman Kevin Burness as he moved through to meet Michael van Gerwen on Day Two.

Scott Williams will meet World Champion Peter Wright on Saturday after recovering from 5-4 down to defeat Czech Republic youngster Adam Gawlas 6-5.

Germany’s Martin Schindler delighted the Leverkusen crowd with a clinical 6-2 win over Ritchie Edhouse, finishing six doubles from 11 attempts, and he now plays reigning European Champion Rob Cross.

Top-ranked German Gabriel Clemens was eliminated with a 6-3 loss to Dave Chisnall – who booked a tasty second round clash with Damon Heta.

Young German Nico Kurz was defeated 6-4 by Rowby-John Rodriguez as the Austrian set up a tie with Premier League leader Jonny Clayton on Saturday night.

Berry van Peer came from 4-2 down to defeat Jermaine Wattimena 6-4, punishing 21 missed doubles from his fellow Dutchman to move into the last 32, where he plays Premier League star James Wade.

Cameron Menzies pulled clear from two-all to defeat Ian White 6-3 in their tie, sealing a second round meeting with Dimitri Van den Bergh with a superb 156 checkout.

Devon Petersen came from 5-4 down to win a deciding leg against youngster Kevin Doets, setting up the South African for a second round tie against former housemate Joe Cullen – the 2022 Masters champion.

Krzysztof Kciuk punished 13 missed darts at doubles from Keane Barry as he set up a Second Round clash with Ryan Searle courtesy of a 6-3 victory, taking out 133 along the way.

Maik Kuivenhoven survived four missed match darts from Stephen Bunting in the deciding leg of their tie as he set up an all-Dutch contest with Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Andrew Gilding came from 2-0 down to defeat Lukas Wenig 6-3 to move through to a tie with Brendan Dolan, stringing together five legs of between 12-15 darts in the process.

With America’s Danny Baggish having withdrawn for personal reasons, Karel Sedlacek will take on Nathan Aspinall in round two after receiving a bye.

BET £10 AND GET £30 IN FREE BETS WHEN YOU REGISTER HERE (18+ | T&Cs Apply | Gamble Aware)

European Darts Open 2022 – Day One Results

Friday May 6

First Round

Afternoon Session
Mickey Mansell 0-6 Luke Woodhouse
Darren Penhall 6-0 Luc Peters
Dennis Nilsson 6-3 Martin Lukeman
Josh Rock 6-0 Connor Scutt
Adam Gawlas 5-6 Scott Williams
Krzysztof Kciuk 6-3 Keane Barry
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Lukas Wenig

Evening Session
Devon Petersen 6-5 Kevin Doets
Stephen Bunting 5-6 Maik Kuivenhoven
Daryl Gurney 6-5 Kevin Burness
Berry van Peer 6-4 Jermaine Wattimena
Cameron Menzies 6-3 Ian White
Martin Schindler 6-2 Ritchie Edhouse
Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-4 Nico Kurz
Dave Chisnall 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Karel Sedlacek (Bye)