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Van Baelen enjoys dream debut at the International Open as Van den Bergh and Kyle Anderson also turn on the style

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Price retains International Darts Open title in Riesa

International Darts Open 2019 Day Two preview and order of play: Round Two commences in Riesa

Jamie Shaw in PDC Darts News 14 Sep 2019

Adrian Lewis reacts (credit:Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

The top 16 seeds kick off their campaigns at the 2019 International Open in Riesa on Saturday as the penultimate European Tour event of the season reaches the Second Round stage.

Day One at the SACHSENarena saw the favourites mostly prevail in the opening round, while two host nation qualifiers kept the German flag flying.

In the absence of Michael van Gerwen, who withdrew from the tournament, the field looks to be wide open as the remaining 32 players look to book their place in the latter stages.

Gerwyn Price begins the defence of his title with a clash against former Auckland Masters champion Kyle Anderson – who came through the game of the day against Arron Monk on Friday 6-5 with a 99.6 average.

World Matchplay champion Rob Cross looks to avert a potential scalp at the hands of capable Scotsman John Henderson – though ‘The Highlander’ will require a marked improvement on the 79 average which saw him past Brett Claydon in Round One.

Newly-crowned European Matchplay Joe Cullen commences his quest for back-to-back European Tour titles when he faces Belgium’s Davy van Baelen – who produced the stand-out performance of the opening round as he averaged 103.6 and hit six doubles from seven attempts in whitewashing Ole Luckow.

Belgian ace Van Baelen aims to repeat his debut heroics (Photo by Tobias Wenzel/PDC Europe)

Adrian Lewis, who reached the Semi-Finals on the ProTour in midweek and is back among the world’s top 16, starts out with a tough test against World Cup of Darts finalist William O’Connor.

Reigning and three-time Lakeside Champion Glen Durrant is out to surpass the Quarter-Final stage of a Euro Tour event for the first time and begins his latest campaign against James Richardson – a player battling to retain his Tour Card at the end of the season.

Players Championship Finals winner Daryl Gurney faces former Lakeside finalist Danny Noppert in another tasty tie, while the afternoon session also features a clash between UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall and a resurgent Justin Pipe.

Krzysztof Ratajski, the number six seed, looks to spoil the party by knocking out German darting stalwart Michael Rosenauer, as former Lakeside Champion Steve Beaton faces former Challenge Tour event winner Luke Woodhouse.

The evening session plays host to a clash between two-time Euro Tour finalist Ricky Evans and reigning World Youth Champion Dimitri van den Bergh.

Czech Open champion Jamie Hughes faces fellow power-scorer Steve West, while former Austrian Open champion Jonny Clayton meets home hopeful Steffen Siepmann.

Former World Matchplay semi-finalist Jeffrey de Zwaan opens up against Bolton’s Joe Murnan – who knocked out Jelle Klaasen in Round One – while Austrian Championship winner Mensur Suljovic meets Players Championship event winner Harry Ward.

Ritchie Edhouse, who defeated Gary Anderson on the ProTour earlier this week, aims to pull off another Scottish scalp by sending home German Masters winner Peter Wright.

Ian White, who is seeded number one this weekend, aims to stave off an early exit at the hands of Richard North – who is making his first Euro Tour appearance of the year.

The action gets underway from midday BST, with Second Round matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

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