The opening night at the ELTEN Safety Shoes Baltic Sea Darts Open drew a lively crowd to the MERKUR Ostseehalle in Kiel, where eight German players took to the oche. Only Niko Springer made it through, delivering the home nation’s sole first-round win.
Notable Performances at the Baltic Sea Darts Open
The most striking story came from Dutch newcomer Jimmy van Schie. On his PDC European Tour debut, he swept past Ian White 6-0, landing 85 percent of his double attempts. It was the first debut whitewash on the tour since 2023.
Germany’s Jason Riedtke pushed Karel Sedlacek all the way before losing in a last-leg decider. Springer was the standout among the hosts, controlling his match in a 6-2 victory over Nandor Major. The rest of the German contingent suffered defeats: Daniel Klose fell 3-6 to Krzysztof Ratajski, Max Hopp lost 4-6 to Justin Hood, Lukas Wenig went down 3-6 to Kevin Doets, Paul Krohne was beaten 0-6 by Dirk van Duijvenbode, and Marcel Hausotter lost 1-6 to Joe Cullen.
Cameron Menzies produced the day’s top display, averaging 108.41 against Rob Cross and finishing a 170 checkout. The 170 finish also appeared twice elsewhere, from Lukas Wenig and William O’Connor. Another highlight came from Ryan Joyce, who completed a 150 finish with three darts in the bullseye during his win over Christian Kist. Dimitri Van den Bergh made his first European Tour appearance in 420 days and marked his return with a 6-2 win against Alan Soutar.
Friday results:
- Ricky Evans 6-1 Teemu Harju
- Karel Sedlacek 6-5 Jason Riedtke
- Ryan Joyce 6-3 Christian Kist
- Ian White 0-6 Jimmy van Schie
- Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Daniel Klose
- Alan Soutar 2-6 Dimitri Van den Bergh
- Justin Hood 6-4 Max Hopp
- Andrew Gilding 6-4 Jeffrey De Zwaan
- Niels Zonneveld 6-4 Richard Veenstra
- Kevin Doets 6-3 Lukas Wenig
- Cameron Menzies 6-4 Rob Cross
- James Hurrell 3-6 Sebastian Bialecki
- Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-0 Paul Krohne
- William O’Connor 6-4 Cristo Reyes
- Joe Cullen 6-1 Marcel Hausotter
- Niko Springer 6-2 Nandor Major
The top 16 seeds join the action on Saturday. Niko Springer and Martin Schindler are the only German players remaining in the second round.