The opening session in Basel saw plenty of seed and experienced names winning through in the Swiss Darts Trophy. The opening day wasn’t just about survival, for plenty of players it was about clinging onto European Championship or World Grand Prix hopes, or on the flip-side, trying to claw their way in.
German prospect Springer was victorious in last weekend's Hungarian Darts Trophy, and he was back in action as the year's penultimate European Tour event began in Basel.
Despite an early 11-darter, Springer found himself 4-1 down to Veenstra before taking out 120, 94 and 86 to level.
The German ace then edged ahead in leg nine, but Veenstra checked out 156 to save the game and 76 to win the decider, moving him through to a round two clash with Rob Cross on Saturday.
Premier League star Nathan Aspinall eased through to a clash with Jonny Clayton in the last 32, whitewashing Andreas Toft Jorgensen without the PDCNB qualifier having a dart at a double.
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Krzysztof Ratajski took a huge step towards securing his BOYLE Sports World Grand Prix spot with a 6-0 whitewash of Owen Bates - setting up a second round tie with Mike De Decker.
Raymond van Barneveld sealed his win over Swiss qualifier Ansh Sood with a 120 checkout, as the Dutchman maintained his World Grand Prix hopes by moving through to face Damon Heta.
William O'Connor also remains in the hunt to snatch World Grand Prix qualification, after averaging over 102 in a superb 6-1 win over Daryl Gurney, for whom a 117 checkout could only briefly stem the tide.
Reigning European Champion Ritchie Edhouse kept alive his hopes of defending the title with the narrowest of wins against Wessel Nijman, taking out 80 in the deciding leg to progress.
Edhouse now receives a second round Bye, after Ross Smith withdrew on Friday night for family reasons.
Ricardo Pietreczko produced three ton-plus finishes to see off Swedish ace Oskar Lukasiak 6-3, creating an all-German second round tie with World Cup partner Martin Schindler.
Mensur Suljovic finished six doubles from 11 attempts against Grand Slam of Darts finalist Martin Lukeman, and the Austrian ace now plays Chris Dobey on Saturday.
Chris Landman fended off Swiss debutant Denis Schnetzer's comeback from 4-0 down as the Dutch thrower claimed a 6-3 victory to move into a tie with Stephen Bunting on Saturday.
Jermaine Wattimena ended the hopes of Swiss number one Stefan Bellmont with a 6-1 victory which sets up a tie with World Cup winner Josh Rock.
Dirk van Duijvenbode will meet Gian van Veen on Saturday, after seeing off another Dutchman, Jitse van der Wal, by a 6-2 margin.
Callan Rydz set up a tasty tie with world number one Luke Humphries by defeating Connor Scutt 6-1, averaging over 100 in an impressive display.
Luke Woodhouse came from 3-0 down against Lukas Wenig to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a dramatic deciding-leg win, meaning he now plays Dave Chisnall.
Niels Zonneveld won five of the final six legs in his tie against Czech qualifier Dalibor Smolik, progressing to a second round clash with Ryan Searle.
Cor Dekker came from 2-0 down to defeat Andrew Gilding 6-3, and the Norwegian World Cup ace will now meet Peter Wright in round two.
Ryan Joyce set up a tie with third seed James Wade after cruising to a whitewash win over Swiss qualifier Rocco Fulciniti, who was denied a dart at a double.
Saturday's double session at St Jakobshalle sees the 16 seeded stars enter the action, with the European Tour event the concluding on Sunday with the third round in the afternoon session ahead of the decisive quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in the evening session.
Live coverage from the Swiss Darts Trophy will be streamed on DAZN for viewers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and through the DAZN Darts channel on Pluto TV.
Coverage will also be shown on PDCTV (excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and through bookmakers' worldwide.
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2025 Swiss Darts Trophy
Friday September 26
Round One
Afternoon Session
Callan Rydz 6-1 Connor Scutt
Niels Zonneveld 6-3 Dalibor Smolik
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-0 Owen Bates
Cor Dekker 6-3 Andrew Gilding
Ryan Joyce 6-0 Rocco Fulciniti
Luke Woodhouse 6-5 Lukas Wenig
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-3 Oskar Lukasiak
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Martin Lukeman
Evening Session
Chris Landman 6-3 Denis Schnetzer
Ritchie Edhouse 6-5 Wessel Nijman
Raymond van Barneveld 6-3 Ansh Sood
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Niko Springer
Jermaine Wattimena 6-1 Stefan Bellmont
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Jitse van der Wal
Nathan Aspinall 6-0 Andreas Toft Jorgensen
William O’Connor 6-1 Daryl Gurney
Saturday September 27
Round Two
Afternoon Session (1300 local time, 1200 BST)`
Ryan Searle v Niels Zonneveld
Dave Chisnall v Luke Woodhouse
Peter Wright v Cor Dekker
Mike De Decker v Krzysztof Ratajski
Rob Cross v Richard Veenstra
Gian van Veen v Dirk van Duijvenbode
Danny Noppert v William O’Connor
Ritchie Edhouse Bye (Ross Smith withdrawn)
Evening Session (1900 local time, 1800 BST)
James Wade v Ryan Joyce
Martin Schindler v Ricardo Pietreczko
Josh Rock v Jermaine Wattimena
Luke Humphries v Callan Rydz
Jonny Clayton v Nathan Aspinall
Damon Heta v Raymond van Barneveld
Stephen Bunting v Chris Landman
Chris Dobey v Mensur Suljovic
Best of 11 legs