Luke Littler suffers shock first-round exit at European Championship

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Littler was beaten by Gilding on Friday nightČTK / imago sportfotodienst / Ian Stephen

Luke Humphries, Danny Noppert and Jermaine Wattimena have all easily qualified for the second round of the European Championship at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, Germany, but Luke Littler and Rob Cross are out after just one round.

Noppert, number 11 on the ranking list, started the Friday evening session with a match against Englishman Joe Cullen. A break in the first and seventh leg made it 6-2 for the Dutchman, who had a great start with an average of 90.51 and 50% on checkouts. In the second round on Saturday, Noppert will meet Mike De Decker who beat Josh Rock 6-1 in Friday night's final match in Germany.

Wade beats Cross

Welshman Jonny Clayton managed to live up to his sixth spot in the world rankings against Englishman Chris Dobey (13), winning 6-4 after a break in the very first leg of the match. Dobey wasted the match on the doubles (4 from 15), where Clayton utilised 50% of his decisive darts.

Englishman James Wade then provided a stunt against his compatriot Cross. The match, which featured no less than five breaks, ended in 6-3 for Wade with an average of 100.71. Wade utilised only 32% of his checkouts, making it unnecessarily difficult on himself.

Pietreczko impresses home fans

In the next round, Wade will meet Dutchman Wattimena, who beat Scot Peter Wright (74.81). Wright managed two 140 scores and not a single arrow on an out. Wattimena broke his opponent three times, set a solid average of 90.18 and used six of 15 darts on a double (40%).

The most exciting match of the evening was played by Ricardo Pietreczko, who played a home match against Australian Damon Heta. In the first 10 legs, both players had broken each other twice, before the 11th game had to bring a result. To that end, the German finished in style by throwing out 102, with his opponent on 71.

Littler suffers shock loss

Surprisingly, not Littler, but Andrew Gilding is Pietreczko's next opponent. Breaks in the second and fifth leg ensured a 4-4 interval, after which Gilding won his own leg and then broke Littler. Both scoring (98.92) and throwing out (35%), Gilding was better than his compatriot.

Humphries made no mistake against compatriot Nathan Aspinall, who is ranked number 8 in the world. Via a break in the third and fifth game, the game ended in a 6-2 victory for the world number one - and number two on the European Championship ranking list. With 106.49 average and 46% on out throws, Humphries showed the best form of the evening. Jonny Clayton is his next opponent.