Huybrechts beats Searle 6:1 – Littler and van Gerwen start out in Dortmund today
Darts today, 23.10.2026: Huybrechts, Price and Bunting win at the European Championship in Dortmund – Littler, van Gerwen and Schindler in action today.
Yesterday's matchday
Kim Huybrechts produced the strongest performance of yesterday's matchday at the European Championship in Dortmund. The Belgian, who only moved into the field after Luke Humphries withdrew through illness, came through the last 32 6:1 against Ryan Searle. Huybrechts posted an Average of 103.81, threw six 180s and checked out six of his nine attempts at a Double – 66.67 per cent, the best rate of the day. Searle kept up with 98.59 in the Average, but managed only 1 of 3 on the Doubles.
The second-best Average of the day went to Gerwyn Price. The Welshman won 6:2 against Rob Cross and recorded 99.26 to 90.90, with 180s at 3:1. His highest finish was 135. Almost level was Luke Woodhouse with 99.11 in his 6:3 against Dirk van Duijvenbode, who managed 84.82. Woodhouse also threw a perfect Leg in that match; the details are in our report on the 9-darter from Dortmund. His highest finish against van Duijvenbode: 141.
Two matches went the full distance. Stephen Bunting won 6:5 against Danny Noppert, with almost identical Averages of 89.81 to 90.92. Bunting made the difference on the Doubles: 33.33 per cent (6/18) against 27.78 per cent (5/18). He also had the highest finish of the day with 160 – a high finish, but not a Big Fish. Damon Heta also came through 6:5 against James Wade, even though Wade was ahead in almost every category: 96.48 to 91.48 in the Average, 3:1 on the 180s, 45.45 per cent (5/11) to 35.29 per cent (6/17) on the Doubles. Heta needed more attempts, but took one more.
Cameron Menzies ended the tournament of Niels Zonneveld, the winner of European Tour 15, with 6:3. Menzies led the Average 93.75 to 90.00 and converted 6 of 12 Doubles. Gian van Veen won 6:4 against Andrew Gilding and was narrowly better in the Average (95.21 to 93.62); Gilding had the better rate on the Doubles with 57.14 per cent (4/7), but far fewer chances. Ross Smith came through 6:4 against Karel Sedláček; both stayed weak on the Doubles – Smith hit 6 of 25 (24 per cent), Sedláček 4 of 17 (23.53 per cent).
In the MODUS Super Series, S. Dutton and J. Hunt set the tone in the day's group. Both finished the round with four wins from five matches; in the head-to-head Dutton won 4:0.
- Dutton lost only to R. Martin (2:4) and won the decider against R. Ulrich 4:3.
- Hunt beat Ulrich 4:0 and Martin 4:1 among others, but lost to Dutton.
- D. O'Hara lost all five matches, most narrowly 3:4 against G. Sampson.
- In the evening block N. Potter won both matches: 4:1 against J. Aldridge and 4:3 against G. Usher, who had earlier beaten T. Lishman 4:2. Lishman then won 4:0 against G. Hall.
What's on today
The European Championship continues the last 32 today from 19:10, with eight matches on the programme.
- 19:10: Ryan Joyce – Jermaine Wattimena
- 19:40: Krzysztof Ratajski – Dave Chisnall
- 20:10: Nathan Aspinall – Cristo Reyes
- 20:40: Jonny Clayton – Niko Springer
- 21:10: Luke Littler – William O'Connor
- 21:40: Wessel Nijman – Martin Schindler
- 22:10: Kevin Doets – Michael van Gerwen
- 22:40: Josh Rock – Chris Dobey
The evening brings the matches with the greatest significance for the rest of the tournament: Littler against O'Connor, Schindler's German appearance against Nijman and van Gerwen against Doets, all within an hour.
Running alongside is the MODUS Super Series with 18 matches. The afternoon block starts at 14:10 with O'Hara – Sampson and ends at 18:20 with Sampson – Martin. In between are yesterday's rematches: Dutton – Ulrich at 14:45, Hunt – Dutton at 15:40 and Ulrich – Hunt at 18:00. Late in the evening three more matches follow: Usher – Hall at 23:10, Lishman – Aldridge at 23:30 and Hall – Potter at 23:45.