International Darts Open 2022 | Day Three Preview and Order of Play

The first European Tour event winner of 2022 will be crowned in Riesa on Sunday as the International Darts Open reaches its climax.

Eleven of the top 16 seeds are left standing at the SACHSENarena, as well as a host of other in-form hopefuls looking to land the £25,000 top prize.

The afternoon session plays host to the Third Round ties, before the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and final take place in the evening.

As well as the title, the world number one spot is also on the line as Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright battle it out for supremacy at the top of the Order of Merit.

Price, winner here in 2018 and 2019, must win the title in order to maintain the number one spot, otherwise Wright will be crowned world number one for the first time.

Grand Slam champion Price overcame Ritchie Edhouse in Saturday’s opener and now comes up against former Brisbane Masters winner Damon Heta – against whom he has won all seven of their previous meetings.

Wright, meanwhile, faces a rank outsider in his Last 16 clash as he meets Host Nation qualifier Niko Springer.

The two-time World Champion needed an average of just 88.4 to whitewash a struggling Luke Woodhouse in his opener and will be eyeing a marked improvement on that display when he faces the home favourite.

Springer has enjoyed a dream Euro Tour debut so far, defeating Jermaine Wattimena and Brendan Dolan to become the last German standing in the competition.

Meanwhile, Michael van Gerwen steps up his quest for a 33rd European Tour title with a grudge clash against Dutch rival Danny Noppert.

Noppert notably knocked MVG out of the World Grand Prix in Round One last October, with the pair involved in a controversial exchange on stage.

Noppert is making his first appearance of the season after missing the first quartet of ProTour events following the birth of his first child, and returned to defeat Mervyn King 6-3 on Saturday.

Van Gerwen fended off a tricky test from Irish youngster Keane Barry to prevail 6-4 with a 102 average and is vying for a first Euro Tour triumph since 2019.

The opening match of the day sees top seed and defending champion Joe Cullen take on the returning Nathan Aspinall.

Cullen, the reigning Masters champion, swept aside Latvia’s Madars Razma 6-1 in his opener and will look to pile more pain on a struggling Aspinall – who continues his recovery from a wrist injury which had kept him out of action until this weekend.

Aspinall, who has dropped to 16th in the Order of Merit, dispatched Canada’s Jeff Smith 6-4 with an average of 88 on Saturday and knows he must raise his level considerably if he is to challenge the Premier League star.

Two unseeded Belgian stars collide as Dimitri Van den Bergh takes on PDC newcomer Brian Raman.

Van den Bergh had to start out in Round One on Friday but has dropped just three legs on his way to this stage, thrashing Martin Lukeman 6-2 and Mensur Suljovic 6-1.

Raman, the current WDF number one, marked his debut with a 6-3 win over Germany’s David Schlichting before edging out second seed Jose de Sousa in Round Two.

James Wade, whose most recent Euro Tour title came back in 2016, continues his quest for glory ahead of his UK Open title defence next week when he faces in-form Kim Huybrechts.

Huybrechts has recorded back-to-back 6-3 wins over Florian Hempel and Devon Petersen en route to this stage, while Wade opened up with a 6-4 defeat of Vincent van der Voort.

Premier League champion Jonny Clayton survived a scare from Krzysztof Kciuk in his opener, recovering from 3-0 and 5-3 down to prevail in a decider courtesy of a 96 checkout.

The Ferret now faces fellow Welsh star Lewy Williams – the confident 20-year-old who has already seen off Dennis Nilsson and tenth seed Krzysztof Ratajski.

The final match of the afternoon sees four-time Euro Tour event winner Michael Smith take on 2021 Players Championship event winner Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Van Duijvenbode made a perfect start by whitewashing Nico Kurz 6-0 with a 100.2 average on Saturday, while Smith saw off Simon Whitlock 6-4 to steady the ship after a rocky start to the season.

The action gets under way from 12pm GMT, with Third Round and Quarter-Finals matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs, Semi-Finals best of 13 and the final best of 15.

WATCH DAY THREE OF THE INTERNATIONAL DARTS OPEN STREAMED LIVE HERE (18+)

International Darts Open 2022 Day Three Schedule

All times GMT (Local time one hour ahead)

Sunday February 27

Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm)

Last 16
Joe Cullen v Nathan Aspinall
James Wade v Kim Huybrechts
Michael van Gerwen v Danny Noppert
Gerwyn Price v Damon Heta
Brian Raman v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Jonny Clayton v Lewy Williams
Peter Wright v Niko Springer
Michael Smith v Dirk van Duijvenbode

Evening Session (6pm-10pm)

Quarter-Finals
Cullen/Aspinall v Wade/Huybrechts
Van Gerwen/Noppert v Price/Heta
Raman/Van den Bergh v Clayton/Williams
Wright/Springer v M Smith/Van Duijvenbode

Semi-Finals

Final