Sunday 21 September 2014 12:05, UK
Raymond van Barneveld narrowly escaped a gritty fightback from Michael Mansell before edging through to the second round of the European Darts Trophy on Friday, but James Wade and Stephen Bunting were knocked out of the European Tour event in Leipzig.
Dutch star van Barneveld had to win through Thursday's qualifiers at the Kohlrabizirkus just to qualify for the event, and after being taken all the way to a deciding 11th leg by Poland's Krzystof Chmielewski, he suffered the same fate in the main event's first round.
He had seemed on course to cruise into the last 32 when he won the opening four legs without reply, and he also led 5-1 before Mansell mounted a comeback.
The Northern Irish left-hander took four successive legs - including an 11-darter in one leg and two other legs where he punished missed match darts from the Dutchman - as he pulled back to take the game into a decider.
However, 'Barney' regained his composure at the crucial moment as he finished double six to claim a hard-fought victory.
"I'm happy to be through," admitted a relieved van Barneveld. "At 5-1 up I may have been lucky in a couple of legs because Mickey missed a couple of doubles, but the game still depended on the last leg.
"I missed so many doubles in the second half of the game so I know I can do a lot better, but I'm still in."
Van Barneveld now plays Ian White in Saturday's second round, with that game having even greater significance with the pair battling to stay inside the world's top 16.
World number seven James Wade, June's Gibraltar Darts Trophy winner, was the biggest name casualty on the opening day of the year's final £100,000 PDC European Tour event.
The left-hander was defeated 6-4 by Andy Smith, who took a 3-0 lead and also finished 120 as he secured his place in the second round against Northern Irish ace Brendan Dolan.
Lakeside Champion Stephen Bunting also exited in the first round as he went down 6-3 to Ross Smith, who took the game's opening four legs and finished six doubles from eight attempts in a clinical display to set up a second round clash with World Champion Michael van Gerwen.
European Darts Trophy
Friday September 19
First Round
Ricky Evans 5-6 Jelle Klaasen
Christian Kist 5-6 Shaun Narain
Steve West 6-1 Michael Rosenauer
Tomas Seyler 2-6 Roxy-James Rodriguez
Gerwyn Price 6-3 Bernd Roith
Ryan De Vreede 6-5 Max Hopp
Dirk van Duijvenbode 2-6 Jyhan Artut
Andrew Gilding 6-2 Dimitri Van den Bergh
William O'Connor 6-4 Mensur Suljovic
Gino Vos 4-6 Dean Winstanley
Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Michael Mansell
Ronny Huybrechts 6-5 Richie Burnett
James Wade 4-6 Andy Smith
Stephen Bunting 3-6 Ross Smith
James Hubbard 5-6 Kevin Painter
Ronnie Baxter 4-6 Michael Hurtz
