Dean Winstanley made a remarkable comeback to defeat Mark Walsh 6-5 in the opening session of the German Darts Championship in Berlin, while Justin Pipe produced a top-drawer display to defeat Michael van Gerwen at the Tempodrom.
A high-quality afternoon of darts yesterday saw Yorkshireman Winstanley, an emerging face in the PDC after winning a Tour Card in January, showed his class.
Winstanley trailed 5-2 but clawed his way back level as Walsh failed to close out victory, and when the Hertfordshire ace missed give darts for victory in the deciding leg he stepped in to finish tops to sneak through.
Vincent van der Voort came from 5-1 down to claim a remarkable 6-5 win over Jim Walker, another new face on the PDC circuit in 2012 who was just edged out as the Dutchman followed up an 11-darter by winning the game with a 14-dart leg in the decider.
Justin Pipe came from 2-0 down to win 6-4 against Michael van Gerwen, avenging his loss to the young Dutchman in a Players Championship last weekend with a 102.82 average.
Mark Webster and Dave Chisnall also topped 100 averages in their wins over Darren Webster and Gareth Cousins respectively, while Wayne Jones defied an 11-dart finish from Croatian Zdravko Antunovic in his 6-2 victory.
Co Stompe was a 6-2 winner against youngster Sam Hill, while Wes Newton and Mervyn King were the other winners on the main stage in their clashes with William O’Connor and Peter Hudson.
Andy Smith hit back from 4-1 down to win 6-5 against Mick Todd, while Peter Wright also had to fight from behind after finding himself 4-2 down against Prakash Jiwa before claiming an 11-leg victory.
Steve Brown and Colin Osborne progressed past Steve Evans and Darren Johnson, while Alan Tabern won in a deciding leg against Dutch newcomer Leon De Geus.
Hull youngster Reece Robinson pulled off a shock win over former World Champion Richie Burnett, and his reward for the 6-2 triumph could be a second round clash with world number one Phil Taylor, who plays his opening game against Jerry Hendriks in the evening session.
Scunthorpe’s Dave Ladley also produced an upset with a 6-3 win over recent Speedy Services UK Open semi-finalist Denis Ovens, and now meets Kevin Painter in the second round after the Daventry star received a bye following Keegan Brown’s withdrawal.