World number one Luke Humphries suffered a shock defeat to Gabriel Clemens at the Hungarian Darts Trophy, where Michael van Gerwen later landed a nine-dart finish as he coasted into the last 16.
Humphries just missed out on the PDC European Tour event title last year when beaten 8-7 in the final by Dave Chisnall, and was soon up against it when Clemens broke throw in the opening game.
Although world champion Humphries fought back to level and then lead 4-3, German Clemens broke again to edge 5-4 in front before taking victory against the darts in the deciding leg.
IT'S TWO IN ONE DAY! 🔥
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN HAS JUST HIT THE SECOND NINE-DARTER OF THE DAY IN BUDAPEST!
Incredible from Van Gerwen, as he follows in Cor Dekker's footsteps from earlier today to kick off his game against Martin Lukeman! 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZmLxCt3623
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) September 21, 2024
Clemens will face Van Gerwen in the last 16 after the Dutchman demolished Martin Lukeman 6-2 – having landed a perfect nine darts in the opening leg and averaging 104.
Peter Wright continued his fine recent form on the back of his German Darts Championship victory with a 6-0 whitewash of Australia’s Damon Heta to coast into the last 16.
Gerwyn Price, another former world champion, crashed out after Dutchman Wessel Nijman came from 5-2 down to take a last-leg decider.
Top seed Chisnall ended the hopes of Jonny Clayton – who had beaten world number two Michael Smith in his opening match – with an impressive 6-1 win, hitting an average of just over 100.
In the opening match of the evening session at the MVM Dome, Danny Noppert held off a fightback from Nathan Aspinall to win 6-4.
Ross Smith beat Raymond van Barneveld before Rob Cross celebrated his 34th birthday with a 6-1 victory over Andrew Gilding to finish off the evening action.
Earlier on Saturday, Josh Rock came from 5-2 down to beat James Wade in a final leg after ‘The Machine’ had missed eight match darts and Dutch-born Norwegian Cor Dekker hit a nine-dart finish in his 6-2 defeat by Stephen Bunting.
The last-16 games will take place on Sunday afternoon before the tournament concludes with the quarter-finals onwards into the evening session.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.