'I thought I played absolutely rubbish there' - Josh Rock critical on his performance in victory over Ricardo Pietreczko

Josh Rock admitted that he could play better than he did in his 6-3 win over Ricardo Pietreczko in the second round of the Hungarian Darts Trophy.

The World Cup winner had made it to the previous two European Tour finals, losing out to Luke Littler in the Flanders Darts Trophy and Luke Humphries in the Czech Darts Open. He was looking to build on his incredible form, but would have to get past the German number two, whom he had previously lost to in the Dutch Darts Championships a few months ago.

Rock put those woes behind him quickly, storming into a 4-0 lead, with a best checkout of 100 in that period. However, Pikachu would mount a comeback, winning three of the next four legs with checkouts consisting of 124, 126, and a show-stopping 161. Rock missed multiple match darts, but eventually was able to get over the line.

He finished with a 99.62 average, just below Pietreczko's 100.39. He also mustered up an impressive 67% checkout rate. Despite this, he said both he and his opponent could play better in his interview after the victory. "I thought I played absolutely rubbish there—but that’s no disrespect to Ricardo. We both can play better than that. I think I just scraped over the line against him.

"Ricardo’s finishing was absolutely phenomenal. The 161, the 121, and he had another one before that. It’s probably the most perfect bull I’ve ever seen in my life. So yeah, me and Ricardo didn’t play the way we both can, but a win’s a win, and I move on to the next game."

This win has moved him into the third round, and will see him play the French number one Thibaut Tricole, who reached the round of 16 for the first time in Budapest after completing a fantastic comeback against Stephen Bunting. The French Touch took out a crucial 111 checkout, before surviving multiple missed darts from the world number four. He took his match dart, giving Rock a slightly easier opponent on paper. Despite this, he is not taking anything for granted.

"If I play my game tomorrow, hopefully I should come out the winner," Rock said. "As you say, it was a very unexpected result, but darts is darts nowadays. The standard is completely different—you don’t know who’s going to win tournaments anymore. So if I turn up tomorrow, hopefully I’ll be the winner."