European Darts Matchplay 2023 | Day One Preview and Order of Play
The European Darts Matchplay gets under way in Trier on Friday as the qualifiers lock horns in Round One.
The tenth of 13 Euro Tour events this season features 48 players battling it out for £175,000 in prize money at the Trier Arena in Germany from June 30 to July 2.
The top 16 players from the ProTour Order of Merit (as of April 4) are seeded and enter at the Second Round stage, while 32 qualifiers battle it out for the right to join them.
Following this weekend’s event, the top 16 players on the PDC Order of Merit will join the next 16 highest ranked players from the ProTour Order of Merit in the draw for the World Matchplay.
Raymond van Barneveld is among those bidding to secure a place at the Winter Gardens, and the five-time World Champion will look to consolidate his qualification by overcoming former Development Tour winner George Killington.
The chasing pack is led by William O’Connor and Simon Whitlock, who are £2,000 adrift of Brendan Dolan – who currently occupies the final ProTour qualification spot.
Both must reach at least the Last 16 stage in Trier and hope that Dolan suffers defeat in his First Round clash with Connor Scutt if they are to maintain any hope of reaching the World Matchplay.
O’Connor faces a formidable opener against ten-time major winner James Wade – who is out to cement his top 16 status in order to be seeded in Blackpool.
Australian ace Whitlock, meanwhile, opens up against James Wilson in the penultimate match of the evening session.
Luke Woodhouse and Ricardo Pietreczko harbour outside hopes of gate-crashing the the Matchplay, but must reach at least the Quarter-Final stage this weekend if they are to do so.
Woodhouse, who reached the final of a Players Championship event earlier this month, takes on former Lakeside Champion Stephen Bunting, while German ace Pietreczko faces his compatriot Fabian Herz.
One of the stand-out ties of the opening round sees German number one Gabriel Clemens take on former Grand Slam champion Jose De Sousa.
UK Open champion Andrew Gilding starts out against Associate Member qualifier Darryl Pilgrim, while former Euro Tour finalist Martin Lukeman meets new Tour Card holder Graham Hall.
Callan Rydz, who received a late call-up to the event via the reserve list, will look to seize his opportunity when he plays three-time Challenge Tour winner Stephen Burton.
Kim Huybrechts, winner of a ProTour event back in February, faces former UK Open semi-finalist Keane Barry, as Northern Ireland’s Mickey Mansell meets Canadian number one Matt Campbell.
Former World Championship quarter-finalist Ryan Joyce kicks off the afternoon session with a tie against former World Youth Champion Ted Evetts.
Liam Maendl-Lawrance, who came through the Host Nation qualifier to reach this event, faces Finland’s Marko Kantele, while Czech qualifier Vítězslav Sedlák takes on Tour Card holder Daniel Klose.
Christian Kist, the 2012 Lakeside Champion, faces a tricky opener against fellow Dutchman Gian van Veen – winner of four Development Tour titles this season.
The action gets under way from 12pm BST, with First Round ties to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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European Darts Matchplay 2023 Day One Schedule
All times BST (Local time +1 hour)
Friday June 30
First Round
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm)
Ryan Joyce v Ted Evetts
Daniel Klose v Vitezslav Sedlak
Gian van Veen v Christian Kist
Graham Hall v Martin Lukeman
Connor Scutt v Brendan Dolan
Darryl Pilgrim v Andrew Gilding
Mickey Mansell v Matt Campbell
Stephen Burton v Callan Rydz
Evening Session (6pm-10pm)
Liam Maendl-Lawrance v Marko Kantele
Fabian Herz v Ricardo Pietreczko
Kim Huybrechts v Keane Barry
William O’Connor v James Wade
George Killington v Raymond van Barneveld
Jose de Sousa v Gabriel Clemens
Simon Whitlock v James Wilson
Luke Woodhouse v Stephen Bunting
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