Ryan Joyce beat Jonny Clayton 6-5 in round two of the Slovak Darts Open on Saturday night, adding another seeded-player exit to a lively evening in Bratislava.
The result was listed on the official PDC Europe schedule, with Clayton beaten 5-6 by Joyce during the Saturday evening session at the Incheba Expo. It sends Joyce into finals day on Sunday and cuts short Clayton’s push at the ninth European Tour event of the 2026 season.
Joyce Extends Seeded Shake-Up In Bratislava
Clayton had been one of the headline names in the second-round draw, but Joyce held his nerve across the full 11-leg distance to move through. The Welshman’s defeat followed other notable results in the session, with Gerwyn Price losing to Cameron Menzies and Gian van Veen beaten by Rob Cross.
For Joyce, this is a timely European Tour result. A deciding-leg win over a proven major champion gives him immediate momentum before Sunday’s last-16 stage, where the format tightens and every missed dart starts to carry greater weight.
The wider story is the pressure building around the established names. Michael van Gerwen and Stephen Bunting both survived deciding-leg matches, but Clayton did not, leaving Joyce with a clean opportunity to turn a sharp Saturday night result into a deeper run in Slovakia, according to the official PDC Europe schedule and results.
