The Austrian favourite thrilled the home crowd at the Stadthalle with a tidy display, hitting 75% of his doubles in a 6-2 win that set up a second-round meeting with third seed James Wade.
Suljovic has shown encouraging form in recent days, reaching a semi-final and a quarter-final during the week’s ProTour events in Hildesheim, and carried that momentum into Friday night.
“That was absolutely brilliant,” Suljovic said. “I love this crowd. This is my family! Thank you!”
Peter Wright and Alan Soutar kept Scottish interest alive with convincing 6-2 victories.
Wright brushed aside Austria’s Zoran Lerchbacher for his first European Tour win of 2026 and will now face defending champion Martin Schindler.
Soutar took advantage of a poor performance by Raymond van Barneveld to book a meeting with Danny Noppert.
The Netherlands' Dirk van Duijvenbode averaged more than 100 but lost to Latvia’s Madars Razma, who now faces top seed Gian van Veen.
Niels Zonneveld produced a 135 checkout in a deciding leg to edge James Hurrell and set up a tie against Ross Smith, while Kevin Doets impressed in a 6-3 win over Chris Landman.
Ian White defeated former world champion Michael Smith 6-4 and will play Daryl Gurney for a place in the last 16.
Dave Chisnall was another notable casualty, losing 6-3 to Spain’s Cristo Reyes after struggling on the doubles.
Rob Owen resisted a late Joe Cullen comeback for a deciding-leg win on his first European Tour appearance of the year.
Earlier in the day, Germany’s Niko Springer produced three ton-plus finishes in a 6-3 victory over Nick Kenny. Ryan Joyce and Patrik Kovacs knocked out German pair Gabriel Clemens and Ricardo Pietreczko, respectively.
Kim Huybrechts boosted his hopes of World Matchplay qualification with a 6-3 win over Karel Sedlacek and will next face Chris Dobey. William O’Connor also progressed after beating Anton Ostlund and will now take on Rob Cross.
Andrew Gilding overcame Austrian debutant Nick Zwittnigg, while Krzysztof Ratajski defeated Aaron Hardy to set up a meeting with Michael van Gerwen.
The tournament continues on Saturday afternoon, when the 16 seeded players enter the fray in Graz.
Results & fixtures
Afternoon session - round one
Ryan Joyce 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Patrik Kovacs 6-4 Ricardo Pietreczko
Niels Zonneveld 6-5 James Hurrell
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Nick Zwittnigg
William O'Connor 6-3 Anton Ostlund
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Aaron Hardy
Niko Springer 6-3 Nick Kenny
Kevin Doets 6-3 Chris Landman
Evening session - round one
Cristo Reyes 6-3 Dave Chisnall
Rob Owen 6-5 Joe Cullen
Kim Huybrechts 6-3 Karel Sedlacek
Peter Wright 6-2 Zoran Lerchbacher
Alan Soutar 6-2 Raymond van Barneveld
Mensur Suljovic 6-2 Cameron Menzies
Madars Razma 6-4 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Ian White 6-4 Michael Smith
Afternoon session - round two
Jermaine Wattimena v Andrew Gilding
Mike De Decker v Ryan Joyce
Rob Cross v William O'Connor
Ryan Searle v Kevin Doets
Ross Smith v Niels Zonneveld
Damon Heta v Cristo Reyes
Luke Woodhouse v Rob Owen
Chris Dobey v Kim Huybrechts
Evening session - round two
Daryl Gurney v Ian White
Josh Rock v Patrik Kovacs
James Wade v Mensur Suljovic
Michael van Gerwen v Krzysztof Ratajski
Danny Noppert v Alan Soutar
Gian van Veen v Madars Razma
Martin Schindler v Peter Wright
Wessel Nijman v Niko Springer