Euro TourMichael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert face each other tonight in the final of the Austrian Darts Open. ‘Mighty Mike’ got rid of Stephen Bunting (7-5), ‘The Freeze’ was way too strong for Nathan Aspinall (7-2).
Noppert still trailed 1-2 against Aspinall, but after that the Englishman showed nothing at all. His average dropped to below 82 and that was not nearly enough to keep up with his Dutch opponent.
Noppert has a great day in Graz anyway. ‘The Freeze’ settled in his quarterfinal with Joe Cullen: 6-1. Noppert got off to a good start against the number eleven on the Order of Merit and quickly led 3-0. His English opponent then managed to hold his own leg, but then it was over with ‘The Rockstar’. Partly due to a 164 finish, the Dutch number twelve in the ranking again won three legs in a row. Noppert will face Nathan Aspinall in the semifinals.
Earlier today, Noppert also impressively dealt with Welshman Jonny Clayton (eighth in the world ranking): 6-2 in the eighth finals. Noppert threw an average of over 104 points.
Michael van Gerwen
Van Gerwen and Bunting did not play a high-quality semi-final. De Brabander ran out to 3-0 without playing great, but Bunting straightened out and fought back to 4-3. However, ‘The Bullet’ continued to struggle to find his triples and ‘Mighty Mike’ ran out again to 6-3. In the tenth leg, Van Gerwen then had every chance to throw out the game, but he failed to do so. At 6-5 it still worked.
Van Gerwen beat Dirk van Duijvenbode in his quarterfinals with clear figures. De Brabander won the Dutch get-together with 6-1. Van Duijvenbode was allowed to start the match, but Van Gerwen was already at zero after eleven arrows and broke his opponent so quickly. The Westlander only took his first leg at 4-0. It was also his last.
Van Gerwen finished the game with an average of over 106, while Van Duijvenbode also scored well with 103.38.
Van Gerwen reached the quarter-finals by being just too strong for James Wade in a blistering match: 6-5. Thanks to a 170 finish – the big fish – Van Gerwen came back from behind.
After the first two four legs went along with the arrows, Wade Van Gerwen broke with a nice 13-darter. Then the Vlijmenaar missed four doubles to break back and seemed to have lost control of the game. But in leg eight, trailing 4-3, Mighty Mike suddenly threw out 170 to get back into the game. He won the match through a decisive leg.
Defeat Jansen
For Danny Jansen, the eighth finals was the final station. The 19-year-old darts player, currently 81st in the world ranking, did not come in handy against Ricky Evans, the number 38 in the world. Jansen didn’t take a leg: 0-6. The Dutchman threw an average of just over 83, compared to more than 102 from Evans.
At the beginning of this month, the Dutchman surprised friend and foe with his characteristic mat by winning Players Championship 9. At the Austrian Darts Open, he was previously too strong for the Pole Radek Szaganski and the Englishman Luke Humphries.
Program and results
Eighth finals (from 1 p.m.)
Danny Noppert – Jonny Clayton 6-2
Joe Cullen – Krzysztof Ratajski 6-2
Danny Jansen – Ricky Evans 0-6
Madar’s Razma – Nathan Aspinalli 2-6
Zoran Lerchbacher – Dirk van Duijvenbode 1-6
Michael van Gerwen -James Wade 6-5
Gabriel Clemens – Rob Cross 5-6
Callan Rydz – Stephen Bunting 4-6
Quarter-finals
Danny Noppert – Joe Cullen 6-1
Ricky Evans – Nathan Aspinalli 5-6
Dirk van Duijvenbode – Michael van Gerwen 1-6
Rob Cross – Stephen Bunting 4-6
Semi-finals
Danny Noppert – Nathan Aspinall 7-2
Michael van Gerwen – Stephen Bunting 7-5
Final
Danny Noppert – Michael van Gerwen
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