Mervyn King turned on the style with a 106 to dispatch Glen Durrant in Round Two of the Belgian Darts Championship on Saturday, as five seeds were sent packing in Hasselt.
Day two of the season’s first European Tour event saw the majority of the big names safely progress unscathed, but Premier League star Durrant was punished for more missed doubles by a ruthless King.
The first four legs were shared before King broke throw in the fifth and went on to land a 140 checkout to make it 5-2.
Durrant replied with back-to-back legs to apply the pressure, but King sealed the deal efficiently with a 13-darter to book his place in Sunday’s Last 16.
Elsewhere, Michael van Gerwen began his latest quest for a first ranking title of 2020 with a 6-3 victory over Belgian youngster Mike De Decker.
The pair were locked level after four legs but only for Van Gerwen to reel off three in a row to take command.
De Decker stopped the rot in leg eight before Van Gerwen came agonisingly close to winning the match in spectacular fashion as he missed double 12 for a nine-darter.
Nonetheless, the world number one returned to clinch victory and set up a Last 16 show-down with fellow Premier League star Michael Smith.
Smith had earlier thrashed host nation qualifier Ronny Huybrechts 6-1 with a 103.3 average and 50 per cent on the doubles.
World Champion Peter Wright recovered from a sluggish start to safely see off 2012 world finalist Andy Hamilton 6-2 despite an average of just 91.
Gerwyn Price, who defeated Wright in the Premier League in Dublin on Thursday, was also below-par, but had more than enough in the locker to overcome Wesley Plaisier 6-1 despite an average of just 89.
World Matchplay champion Rob Cross landed three 180s and a 127 checkout on his way to a 6-1 rout of Damon Heta to gain a degree of revenge for his defeat to the Australian in last August’s Brisbane Masters final.
Dirk van Duijvenbode continued his superb start to the season by knocking out second seed Ian White 6-3, punishing just 23 per cent on the doubles from the Stoke star.
Krzysztof Ratajski began his bid for a second European Tour title with a commanding 6-2 win over Gabriel Clemens with a 98 average and 60 per cent on the doubles.
Danny Noppert produced the performance of the day as he averaged 109 and hit five maximums in a 6-2 victory over fellow Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena.
PDC newcomer Martijn Kleermaker continued his dream Euro Tour debut by following up his First Round win over Stephen Bunting with a Second Round scalp of Joe Cullen.
UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall averaged 98.7 and produced a magnificent 167 checkout en route to a 6-3 victory over Steve Beaton, while Steve West averaged 100 in seeing off Jonny Clayton 6-2 despite a 104 average from the Welshman.
James Wade averaged 97.7 in an assured start as he defeated Irish ace Steve Lennon 6-3, while Mensur Suljovic defied a 170 checkout from Ryan Searle to close out a 6-4 success with two ton-plus finishes of his own.
Jamie Hughes, last year’s Czech Open champion, held his nerve in front of a partisan home crowd to edge out Belgian number one Dimitri van den Bergh in a last-leg decider.
All four remaining Belgians were dumped out of the tournament as Kim Huybrechts also went down 6-4 to Jeffrey de Zwaan with 15 missed darts at doubles proving fatal for The Hurricane.
Sunday sees the Last 16 ties take place in the afternoon session before the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and final are held in the evening session.
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Belgian Darts Championship 2020 Results
Saturday February 29
Second Round
Afternoon Session
Michael Smith 6-1 Ronny Huybrechts
Joe Cullen 3-6 Martijn Kleermaker
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2 Gabriel Clemens
Glen Durrant 4-6 Mervyn King
Rob Cross 6-1 Damon Heta
Ian White 3-6 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Jermaine Wattimena 2-6 Danny Noppert
James Wade 6-3 Steve Lennon
Evening Session
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Steve Beaton
Gerwyn Price 6-1 Wesley Plaisier
Peter Wright 6-2 Andy Hamilton
Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Mike De Decker
Jeffrey de Zwaan 6-4 Kim Huybrechts
Jamie Hughes 6-5 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Mensur Suljovic 6-4 Ryan Searle
Jonny Clayton 2-6 Steve West