By Jaimie Eccles
The opening day of the UK Open has officially come and gone. Day one saw the first four rounds of action that one of the sport’s most exciting tournaments has to offer.
157 players were on display in Minehead to make up an action-packed day of darts. This piece will cover five of the most notable moments from throughout the day.
Rematch of a classic
When Luke Littler and Damon Heta met in the 2024 edition of the UK Open, many fans and pundits described the match as the greatest that the tournament had ever seen.
On that occasion, Damon Heta prevailed with what may be considered as the greatest individual performance of his darting career to date.
And in round 4 of the event this year, the two men met again, eager to match the standards they set in their first encounter.
Unfortunately, things did not quite pan out that way. In a match full of sloppiness from start to finish, Luke Littler cruised to a comfortable 10-3 victory, averaging below 95 in the process.
This match was summed up best in the 4th leg where despite hitting a 180, Damon Heta was unable to take the leg out on throw in 27 darts. Not quite the brilliance we expected, but Luke Littler will have few complaints as he moves on to day two looking to defend his title.
Snakebite shows some life
To say Peter Wright has had a tough time of things as of late would be a great understatement.
The former two-time world champion had a very poor 2025 campaign, topped off at the World Championships this year where he was swept aside effortlessly by Arno Merk in the second round. Yet despite this, ‘Snakebite’ sees his way into the second day of action in Minehead.
Wright was not handed the easiest of tasks in his opening match in round three, where he was faced with Lithuania’s Darius Labanauskas. The performance was nothing stellar, but it was controlled from start to finish as Wright took a 6-3 victory.
‘Snakebite’ then closed the night with a greater test against fellow Scotsman Cameron Menzies but raised his level to match, winning the contest 10-6.
With the pressure on his back arguably at its highest point to date, Peter Wright is eager to prove he can still compete with the very best there is.
Tensions start to rise
A big talking point from the afternoon session came after the contest between Charlie Manby and James Hurrell.
Both men were eager to impress in this one after having similarly impressive World Championship campaigns earlier in the year, and that eagerness seemed to boil over after the match was over.
Manby won the contest in impressive fashion and was jubilant in his celebrations, a little too much for Hurrell who got in the face of the youngster. Charlie wasn’t in any rush to back down, leaving the referee to have to separate the two men.
‘Champagne’ had the last laugh, upping the level on his celebrations one more time as Hurrell frustratedly exited the stage.
Unfortunately for Charlie, he was then eliminated himself in the fourth round. Despite a nearly 10-point advantage in the averages, Ryan Joyce demonstrated some extraordinary finishing to win the contest 10-6.
Wade and Dobey put on a show
When the draw for the fourth round was made, many people eyed up Chris Dobey vs James Wade as a contest that could go right to the wire, and those with this opinion were certainly not left disappointed.
The contest started off hot with three breaks of throw in the first five legs, leaving Dobey with an early advantage.
It would take until leg 12 for ‘The Machine’ to answer back, getting the match back on throw at 6-6.
Each man was able to match the other stride-for-stride all the way until a last leg decider, where Wade would hold firm to deny the 102.9 average of Dobey and progress with a 10-9 win.
Gabriel Clemens is the man that waits for James Wade in the fifth round as he looks to claim the fourth UK Open title of his illustrious career.
Danny Noppert hits a nine-darter
Undoubtedly, the highlight of the evening came in round four where Danny Noppert hit a perfect leg in his clash with Dimitri Van den Bergh.
This contest was one that drew a few eyes on paper. Despite struggling for form over the last year, Dimitri Van den Bergh is a former winner of the UK Open and undoubtedly has the quality within himself to cause problems when at his best.
For the majority of the contest, this expectation was not met. The match was largely unremarkable as ‘The Freeze’ strolled to within a leg of the match.
But then to finish it off, Danny provided a moment of perfection, nailing double 12 for a nine-dart leg and a 10-4 win to progress to the fifth round.
He very nearly was not the only man to hit a perfect leg as a few others came close, most notably Niels Zonneveld who came the width of the wire away from pinning the double 12 in his match with Daryl Gurney.
Danny Noppert moves onto day two where he will face Peter Wright for the chance to move closer to reclaiming the title he won in 2022.