Co Stompe led the way into quarter-finals of the RTL7 International Masters in Holland ahead of Roland Scholten.
Stompe and Scholten progress from opening Dutch group of Masters
Co Stompe led the way into quarter-finals of the RTL7 International Masters in Holland ahead of Roland Scholten, as Jelle Klaasen missed out from Group A.
The new 16-man event at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee is worth €80,000 and Stompe won both of his matches in Group A to move right through to the last eight.
Stompe beat Klaasen 8-3 and then Scholten 8-1 to motor onwards, before leaving the other two players to fight it out for the fonal place in the quarters.
It was 2004 UK Open champion Scholten who went through, winning the last four legs without reply in the decider to see-off Klaasen 8-5 and progress.
"I'm really pleased to have qualified but am delighted to have played so well too," said Stompe. "My scoring was pretty good and I was happy with my finishing.
Challenge
"Hopefully I can keep this up on Sunday in the quarter-finals and challenge to win this tournament on Monday."
Klaasen had hit back from 2-0 down to level the opening game of the tournament, but Stompe won the next five legs without reply as the former Lakeside Champion missed doubles on three occasions.
That was to become a theme for Klaasen, who later missed chances against Scholten too to allow him to move on.
Stompe hit an 11-darter and took out 161 whilst averaging over 95 during his demolition job on Scholten, who should good character to come back out from that defeat to edge out Klaasen.
Klaasen missed a total of 25 doubles across his two matches though, and admitted: "It's disappointing for me because I scored well but couldn't take my chances."
The tournament continues on Saturday evening with Group B featuring Phil Taylor, Terry Jenkins and reigning world champion Adrian Lewis.
Their round-robin games will be followed by Group C's clashes involving five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, Vincent van der Voort and Michael van Gerwen.
Finally, Group D will be played out between James Wade, Gary Anderson and Simon Whitlock before the eight qualifiers fight it out from the quarter-finals onwards.
