Michael Smith suffers early exit in International Darts Open

Smith, winner at Alexandra Palace in 2023, had looked in control of his second-round match against Ritchie Edhouse after opening up a 5-3 lead in the afternoon session.

Edhouse, though, produced a late rally to draw level and then landed a 160 checkout to take the last-leg decider and book a place in the last 16 of the European Tour event.

Nathan Aspinall averaged 113.14 to complete a 6-2 win over world number 11 Jonny Clayton, while Chris Dobey converted a 170 checkout in his 6-4 success against Krzysztof Ratajski.

Ross Smith came from 5-2 down to beat William O’Connor in a deciding leg, while Ryan Searle also saw off Daryl Gurney 6-5.

Masters champion Stephen Bunting, Danny Noppert and Damon Heta all also advanced to finals day at the WT Energiesysteme Arena.

In the evening session, world number one Luke Humphries – winner of the German Darts Grand Prix a fortnight ago – landed half-a-dozen maximums as he swept past Jose de Sousa 6-2.

Welshman Gerwyn Price started his bid for a third successive International Darts Open title with a 6-4 win over Brendan Dolan.

Germany’s Ricardo Pietreczko knocked out James Wade in a deciding leg to delight the home crowd, who were on their feet again when Martin Schindler recorded a 6-3 win over Joe Cullen.

Richard Veenstra dumped out top seed Dave Chisnall as he reeled off four straight legs to seal a 6-2 success while Scotland’s Cameron Menzies survived two match darts as he edged past Josh Rock in a deciding leg.

Gabriel Clemens had the home fans singing once more in Riesa as he held off a fightback from Dirk van Duijvenbode to win 6-4 before the evening action finished with former world champion Rob Cross digging deep to beat Gian van Veen in the last leg of the night.