Michael van Gerwen, Phil Taylor and Peter Wright all start with a win at Austria Open

Michael van Gerwen got the defence of his Austrian Darts Open title off to a perfect start with a thumping second round victory over Jonny Clayton in Vienna on Saturday.

After Friday's first round, Saturday saw the second round take place over two sessions with Van Gerwen joined by Phil Taylor, Dave Chisnall and Peter Wright in action and all three were comfortable winners.

Van Gerwen posted a tournament-high 109.98 average, landing four maximums in his legs to whitewash Clayton, signalling his intent with six perfect darts on his way to a ten-darter for the opening leg and a break of throw.

From then on he continued his domination and fired another 11-darter in the fifth leg before completing his victory, notching six doubles from nine attempts in the process.

It was, though, a disappointing day for the Austrian contingent on home soil, with all three competitors crashing out of the £115,000 PDC European Tour event.

In the day's opening game, 2016 World Championship quarter-finalist Alan Norris sent former World Youth Championship finalist Rowby-John Rodriguez packing with a dominant 6-1 victory.

Host nation qualifier Zoran Lerchbacher was the next to fall, crushed by the impressive Jelle Klaasen and there was more Austrian disappointment to follow as number nine seed Mensur Suljovic was edged out 6-5 by Australia's Kyle Anderson.

Phil Taylor marked a happy return to European Tour action with an impressive 6-1 victory over Steve West.

Dave Chisnall, who has made six European Tour finals in his career including the last two events, kicked off his campaign with a 6-2 victory over former Austrian Darts Open runner-up Jamie Caven.

Equally impressive was Peter Wright as the number two seed blew away Jermaine Wattimena 6-2, in a battle of the emerging stars Benito van de Pas thumped Josh Payne 6-1, while third seed Michael Smith was pushed all the way before edging out Mark Frost 6-5.

Earlier in the day, seeded players were scattered as Robert Thornton, Simon Whitlock and Gerwyn Price all exited the competition.

Thornton missed tops for the match as Nigel Heydon recovered from 5-3 down to win 6-5 and land a tournament high 164 checkout along the way.

Whitlock was dumped out 6-3 as Ron Meulenkamp's impressive run continued, the Dutch left-hander reaching the last 16 of a European Tour event for the first time.

And in a remarkable moment, Price - who was leading Steve Beaton 3-2 at the time - burst a 173 score by hitting a 177 and never recovered, allowing the 52-year-old to clinch four consecutive legs to claim a 6-3 victory.

Belgium's Kim Huybrechts carried on his impressive form from the Betway World Cup of Darts with a 6-1 destruction of youngster Chris Dobey.

Elsewhere, Stephen Bunting thwarted James Richardson 6-3, Terry Jenkins fired a ten-darter on his way to a 6-4 victory over Belgian Dimitri Van den Bergh and Ian White beat Simon Stevenson by the same scoreline to bring an end to the Plymouth qualifier's European Tour debut.

The £115,000 PDC European Tour event concludes on Sunday, with the third round games taking place in the afternoon before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in the evening.