James Wade and Justin Pipe will meet in the first round of the European Darts Open
World Champion Michael van Gerwen will be bidding to win his third successive European Tour event
Monday 3 July 2017 10:19, UK
Former European Tour winners James Wade and Justin Pipe will meet in the first round of the European Darts Open on Friday.
The year's eighth £135,000 European Tour event will be held in Leverkusen for the first time as the Ostermann Arena from Friday to Sunday.
Friday's first round will feature the 32 qualifiers competing, with the field having been completed on Thursday evening with eight players coming from the European Qualifier and five from the Host Nation Qualifier.
Two former European Tour winners will clash in a high-profile first round tie, as top left-hander Wade - who has won events in Gibraltar and Hamburg previously - meets former Austrian Darts Open champion Pipe.
Another former European Tour winner, Mervyn King, will come up against Finland's Kim Viljanen, who was a quarter-finalist in last week's Austrian Darts Open.
Dutchman Vincent van der Voort, a former Austrian Darts Open champion, now meets in-form Spanish ace Cristo Reyes in another tasty first round game.
Former Lakeside Champions Mark Webster and Christian Kist drew James Richardson and Zoran Lerchbacher respectively, while former European Tour finalist John Henderson will play Northern Ireland's Ray Campbell.
Australia's Kyle Anderson and South Africa's Devon Petersen drew two of 2017's emerging stars, Peter Jacques and Richard North, while former World Youth Championship finalist Nathan Aspinall meets former UK Open runner-up Mark Walsh.
Saturday's second round sees the 16 seeded players come into the action, with World Champion Michael van Gerwen bidding to win his third successive European Tour event.
Peter Wright and Michael Smith - the other European Tour event winners this year - also enter in round two alongside shooting star Rob Cross, who is seeded for the first time on the European Tour.
Saturday July 1
Second Round
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm BST)
Daryl Gurney v Jerry Hendriks/ Christian Bunse
Gerwyn Price v Mark Walsh/Nathan Aspinall
Alan Norris v Aden Kirk/ Michael Plooy
Joe Cullen v Krzysztof Ratajski/Mark Barilli
Benito van de Pas v James Richardson/Mark Webster
Kim Huybrechts v John Henderson/Ray Campbell
Simon Whitlock v Dimitri Van den Bergh/Matt Clark
Stephen Bunting v Steffen Siepmann/Jermaine Wattimena
Evening Session (6pm-10pm BST)
Dave Chisnall v Justin Pipe/James Wade
Michael Smith v Kyle Anderson/Peter Jacques
Ian White v Mervyn King/Kim Viljanen
Mensur Suljovic v Zoran Lerchbacher/Christian Kist
Peter Wright v Robbie Green/Martin Schindler
Michael van Gerwen v Vincent van der Voort/Cristo Reyes
Jelle Klaasen v Richard North/Devon Petersen
Rob Cross v Robert Allenstein/Dragutin Horvat
Sunday July 2
Afternoon Session (12pm-4pm BST)
Third Round
Evening Session (6pm-10pm BST)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
Don't forget that you can see all the action from the World Matchplay Darts in Blackpool, live on Sky Sports. The arrows run from 22-30 July.
Who will win the World Matchplay at the world famous Empress Ballroom? Let us know your thoughts by tweeting @SkySportsDarts or by using the comments box below - sign in with Facebook. Follow us on Twitter & use #LoveTheDarts
