Former world champions Michael Smith and Raymond Van Barneveld were early casualties at the Belgian Darts Open in Wieze.
Smith crashed out 6-3 to Ireland's Mickey Mansell, who landed two ton-plus checkouts - including a sublime 161 outshot.
Mansell now faces another former World Champion in Michael van Gerwen.
Five-time world champion Van Barneveld, in a first European Tour appearance of 2026, was beaten 6-1 by Boris Krcmar.
The enigmatic Croatian reaffirmed his big-stage pedigree, averaging 101 and landing 116 and 121 finishes to set up a fascinating showdown against reigning champion Luke Littler.
Wessel Nijman's bid for back-to-back European Tour titles was ended by a 6-3 defeat to Sebastian Bialecki.
Dave Chisnall, Luke Woodhouse, Ricky Evans and Ryan Joyce were among the first-round winners on the opening day of the tournament.
Two-time European Tour winner Kim Huybrechts was arguably Friday's stand-out performer, averaging 101.76 to record a terrific 6-4 victory over Germany's Niko Springer.
"This is what you play darts for," reflected Belgium's former World Cup finalist, who will go head-to-head with Josh Rock in round two.
"The feeling you get when you play in front of your home crowd and you win - this is amazing.
"I'm feeling really good lately. I'm working very hard on my game with Eric [Clarys], and you have to work hard to be at the top level."
Andy Baetens also delivered the goods on home soil, defying a 101 average from Joe Cullen to deny the former Masters champion in a last-leg thriller, which sets up a meeting with fifth seed Stephen Bunting.
2026 Lecot Belgian Darts Open
Friday March 20
Round One
Afternoon Session
Niels Zonneveld 6-4 Jani Haavisto
Luke Woodhouse 6-2 Pascal Devroey
Ricky Evans 6-2 Scott Williams
Ryan Joyce 6-4 Adam Gawlas
Cameron Menzies 6-1 Sietse Lap
William O'Connor 6-1 Tyler Thorpe
Ryan Meikle 6-4 Francois Schweyen
Mickey Mansell 6-3 Michael Smith
Evening Session
Dave Chisnall 6-2 Thibault Tricole
Cristo Reyes 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Andy Baetens 6-5 Joe Cullen
Sebastian Bialecki 6-3 Wessel Nijman
Boris Krcmar 6-1 Raymond van Barneveld
Daryl Gurney 6-1 Ian White
Kim Huybrechts 6-3 Niko Springer
Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Lukas Wenig
Who will win this year's Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries is defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday until May on Your Site. .
