JOE Cullen bounced back from his early exit from the UK Open at the start of the month to reach the last-16 of this year’s first European Tour event.

The Wyke darts ace lost at the first hurdle in Minehead to 2023 PDC World Champion Michael Smith, going down 10-7 in an entertaining game.

Smith was beaten himself in the last-32, with Belgium’s Dimitri Van den Bergh going on to win the UK Open with an epic 11-10 victory in the final over reigning World Champion Luke Humphries.

But while Van den Bergh flopped on home soil at the Belgian Darts Open in Wieze at the weekend, beaten 6-5 in his first-round match against last month’s Masters winner Stephen Bunting, Cullen found greater success.

The Bradfordian romped to a 6-1 victory over Germany’s Martin Schindler in his opener, recording a mammoth average of 103.57 in the process, with a magnificent highest checkout of 142.

Cullen took that form into his last-32 clash against Dutchman Dirk van Duijvenbode.

He won the game 6-3, which was impressive enough, but he also landed two big fish (170 checkouts), including one to win the game in a 12-dart final leg.

The Wyke star was the heavy favourite to win his last-16 encounter against Jermaine Wattimena.

But after vanquishing one Dutch player already, Cullen was unable to repeat the trick, producing a below-par display in a 6-3 defeat.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Joe Cullen did not hit the heights of his first two games at the Belgian Darts Open in his last-16 clash, and paid the ultimate price.Joe Cullen did not hit the heights of his first two games at the Belgian Darts Open in his last-16 clash, and paid the ultimate price. (Image: PDC.)

The final leg of the match summed up his woes, as needing a 72 checkout and ending up with a dart to move just 5-4 down, he produced a wayward throw at his favourite finish, double 16.

That left Cullen with an ugly record of three doubles from 11 for the match, and Wattimena punished that error immediately, taking out 52 to move into the quarter-finals.

The Dutchman’s good run ended in the last eight, as he was beaten 6-2 by 17-year-old sensation Luke Littler.

And the Warrington teenager continued his meteoric rise in the game over the last few months by going on to win the tournament, beating Rob Cross 8-7 in a superb final.