Friday 5 September 2014 23:12, UK
James Wade held off a valiant challenge from Kevin Painter to reach the second round of the European Darts Grand Prix in Germany.
The left-hander clinched a 6-4 victory on the opening day in Sindelfingen, while Kyle Anderson, Andy Hamilton and Stephen Bunting also advanced.
World No 6 Wade, who reached the semi-finals of all three PDC World Series of Darts events last month, got off to a flying start as he took out a 125 finish in the first leg before doubling his lead.
But Painter stayed in touch and broke back to level at 3-3, only for Wade to reel off the next two legs.
The Artist extended the contest, but Wade held his nerve to hit double two to secure a second-round meeting with 13th seed Justin Pipe on Saturday.
"It was a tough draw and to face Kevin Painter in the first round shows the strength in depth of the PDC now," Wade said. "He didn't play as well as he can but I took advantage."
Hamilton will take on Jamie Caven after a 6-0 demolition of Dutch qualifier Ron Meulenkamp, while Bunting hit back from 5-3 down against Germany's Jyhan Artut to win a tense decider and earn a clash with Peter Wright.
Anderson, a semi-finalist in Sydney last week, celebrated his European Tour debut with a 6-4 win over Kevin Dowling, while emerging Canadian talent Shaun Narain edged out Johnny Haines in the deciding leg.
Max Hopp gave the home fans something to cheer with a 6-2 victory over Mike De Decker 6-2, while Michael Rosenauer, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Ryan De Vreede, Joe Cullen, Darren Webster, Steve Hine, John Henderson, Ricky Evans and Kevin McDine also progressed to the last 32.
Cullen produced the best scoring of the day, averaging 99.73 in a 6-3 comeback victory over Mensur Suljovic, while Hine punished James Hubbard for missing four match darts to earn a shot at former champion Adrian Lewis.
