Austrian Darts Open: Mensur Suljovic into second round as Michael Smith and Raymond van Barneveld suffer early losses | Arrow News
Mensur Suljovic advanced to the second round at home as he knocked out Cameron Menzies at the Austrian Darts Open on Friday.
The Austrian delighted his adoring crowd with a ferocious display, nailing 75 per cent of his doubles attempts to celebrate a 6-2 victory.
Suljovic made the semi-finals and quarter-finals of this week’s ProTour doubleheader in Hildesheim, and built on that momentum to open a match against third seed James Wade in the second round.
Ian White hit a big head start as 2023 world champion Michael Smith, racing to a 6-4 victory to set up a meeting with Daryl Gurney for a place in the last 16.
Dave Chisnall was one of the biggest casualties on Friday evening, losing 6-3 to Spain’s Cristo Reyes.
Elsewhere, Peter Wright swept past Austrian veteran Zoran Lerchbacher 6-2 to register his first European Tour win of 2026, setting him up to face defending champion Martin Schindler on Saturday.
Alan Soutar also won 6-2, seeing off a poor performance from Raymond van Barneveld.
Raymond van Barneveld was knocked out in the first round by Alan Soutar
There were mixed fortunes elsewhere among the Dutch team in Graz, with Dirk van Duijvenbode losing to Latvia’s Madars Razma, despite losing more than a ton.
Razma’s prize is a clash with top seed Gian van Veen, while Niels Zonneveld will face last year’s runner-up Ross Smith after he piled on a stunning 135 to sink James Hurrell to a decider.
Kevin Doets impressed again, carding a 99 to edge out fellow fast-burner Chris Landman, who celebrated his first PDC title at the Players Championship 11 on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Niko Springer scored three ton-plus tests – including an impressive 167 – to win 6-3 over Nick Kenny, and Wessel Nijman now awaits the German in an exciting clash.
However, Springer’s teammates Gabriel Clemens and Ricardo Pietreczko suffered early losses, losing to Hungarian qualifier Ryan Joyce and Patrik Kovacs respectively.
Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski came through a tough test against Aaron Hardy to set up a tough match against three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen on Saturday, who will be among the main attractions on day two in Graz.
2026 Austrian Darts Open schedule/results
Friday May 8
Round One
Afternoon Session
Ryan Joyce 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Patrik Kovacs 6-4 Ricardo Pietreczko
Niels Zonneveld 6-5 James Hurrell
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Nick Zwittnigg
William O’Connor 6-3 Anton Ostlund
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Aaron Hardy
Niko Springer 6-3 Nick Kenny
Kevin Doets 6-3 Chris Landman
Evening Session
Cristo Reyes 6-3 Dave Chisnall
Rob Owen 6-5 Joe Cullen
Kim Huybrechts 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Peter Wright 6-2 Zoran Lerchbacher
Alan Soutar 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Cameron Menzies
Madars Razma 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Ian White 6-4 Michael Smith
Saturday May 9
Round Two
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
Jermaine Wattimena v Andrew Gilding
Mike De Decker v Ryan Joyce
Rob Cross v William O’Connor
Ryan Searle v Kevin Doets
Ross Smith v Niels Zonneveld
Damon Heta v Cristo Reyes
Luke Woodhouse v Rob Owen
Chris Dobey v Kim Huybrechts
Evening session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Daryl Gurney v Ian White
Josh Rock v Patrik Kovacs
James Wade v Mensur Suljovic
Michael van Gerwen v Krzysztof Ratajski
Danny Noppert v Alan Soutar
Gian van Veen v Madars Razma
Martin Schindler v Peter Wright
Wessel Nijman v Niko Springer
Sunday May 10
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)
The Third Round
Evening session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
Quarter-Final
Semi-finalist
Finally
