Hungarian Darts Trophy 2023 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play

The top seeds begin their 2023 Hungarian Darts Trophy campaigns on Saturday as the Second Round action takes centre stage in Budapest.

The penultimate Euro Tour event of the season features 48 players battling it out for £175,000 in prize money at the BOK Sportcsarnok from September 22-24.

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 next month’s World Grand Prix.

The race to secure places in the prestigious double-start event intensifies on Saturday as the chasing pack look to remain in the hunt going into the final day of action.

Gian Van Veen is just £250 adrift of Ricardo Pietreczko – who currently occupies the final provisional ProTour Order of Merit spot but suffered a shock early exit on Friday.

Van Veen comfortably saw off 2011 World Grand Prix finalist Brendan Dolan in his opener, and the Dutch prospect must now defeat World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall in the evening session if he is to bolster his hopes of a Grand Prix debut.

Aspinall, the number 15 seed, comes into the event on the back of reaching the final of the World Series Finals in Amsterdam last weekend.

Meanwhile, Luke Woodhouse also aims to remain in contention for a debut appearance at the Grand Prix by overcoming former World Champion Rob Cross in the afternoon session.

Woodhouse must reach at least the Quarter-Finals stage on Sunday if he is to have any chance of gate-crashing the Grand Prix, and he faces a formidable test against recent back-to-back World Series event winner Cross – who has also picked up his first European Tour title this year.

Elsewhere, Joe Cullen launches his defence of his title with a show-down against ten-time major champion James Wade.

Cullen claimed his third Euro Tour title with victory here 12 months ago and has since reached the Semi-Finals of the World Matchplay this season, as well as a further two Euro Tour Semi-Finals.

Wade punished an out of sorts William O’Connor to record a 6-3 victory in Friday’s opening round and is bidding to hold down the world number 16 spot ahead of the Grand Prix.

Michael van Gerwen aims to pick up from where he left off in Amsterdam last weekend when he faces reigning European Champion Ross Smith.

Van Gerwen romped to a fifth World Series Finals title and is now chasing down a second Euro Tour title of the season in preparation for his upcoming World Grand Prix title defence.

World number 17 Smith produced the stand-out performance of the opening round as he saw off Robert Owen 6-2 with a 100.8 average.

Reigning World Champion Michael Smith opens up with a clash against former Grand Slam champion Jose De Sousa.

Smith claimed glory at the German Darts Grand Prix in April and has also picked up titles on the World Series and ProTour this term.

De Sousa held firm to close out a narrow 6-5 victory over Daryl Gurney on Friday but is yet to surpass the Third Round stage in eight Euro Tour appearances this season.

Third seed Luke Humphries begins his quest for a sixth Euro Tour crown when he faces Irish ace Keane Barry.

Humphries ended a run of four straight defeats in Euro Tour finals by claiming the European Matchplay title in July but faces a tricky test against the former UK Open semi-finalist – who averaged 98 in a 6-3 defeat of Gabriel Clemens on Friday.

A battle of the two-time World Champions sees Peter Wright take on Scott Waites.

Wright claimed the Czech Open title in May to add to his Nordic Masters success and was a semi-finalist in the recent World Series Finals.

Waites, meanwhile, recorded his first Euro Tour win of the season by overcoming Madars Razma 6-4 and is vying for another crucial win in his quest to secure World Championship qualification.

Seventh seed Gerwyn Price, winner of back-to-back Euro Tour titles earlier this year, starts out with a tie against former World Youth finalist Nathan Rafferty – who pulled off an impressive win over Stephen Bunting in Round One.

A clash of two extroverts on the oche sees Dirk van Duijvenbode, twice a Euro Tour finalist this year, take on former ProTour event winner Scott Williams – who saw off Richard Veenstra in Round One.

World Youth Champion Josh Rock, runner-up in this year’s Austrian Open, kicks off his campaign against heavy-scoring Belgian Mike De Decker – who knocked out UK Open champion Andrew Gilding on Friday.

Nandor Major made history by becoming the first Hungarian player to win a match on the Euro Tour, and he aims to follow up his win over Pietreczko by pulling off a seismic upset against second seed Damon Heta.

Top seed Dave Chisnall, a two-time Euro Tour winner this season, opens up against 2015 Lakeside Champion Scott Mitchell – who battled past Andy Boulton to register his first ever win on the Euro Tour.

World Cup winner Jonny Clayton, who claimed the Austrian Open title in April, comes up against Jermaine Wattimena, while former UK Open champion Danny Noppert meets Swedish debutant Anton Ostlund – who averaged 97 in a 6-2 win over Vladimir Andersen.

Ryan Searle, the number 16 seed, faces Austria’s Rowby-John Rodriguez – who survived five missed match darts from home favourite Patrik Kovacs before edging through a last-leg decider.

German ace Martin Schindler, semi-finalist at the International Open, faces Polish prospect Sebastian Bialecki in the opening match of the afternoon.

The action gets under way from 12pm BST, with Second Round ties to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

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Hungarian Darts Trophy 2023 Day Two Schedule

All times BST (Local time +1 hour)

Saturday September 23

Second Round

Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm)
Martin Schindler v Sebastian Bialecki
Danny Noppert v Anton Ostlund
Ryan Searle v Rowby-John Rodriguez
Josh Rock v Mike De Decker
Rob Cross v Luke Woodhouse
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Scott Williams
Damon Heta v Nandor Major
Joe Cullen v James Wade

Evening Session (6pm-10pm)
Nathan Aspinall v Gian van Veen
Luke Humphries v Keane Barry
Peter Wright v Scott Waites
Gerwyn Price v Nathan Rafferty
Michael Smith v Jose De Sousa
Michael van Gerwen v Ross Smith
Dave Chisnall v Scott Mitchell
Jonny Clayton v Jermaine Wattimena

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