Michael van Gerwen suffered an ignominious defeat in the second round of the European Darts Grand Prix. Danny Noppert reached the eighth finals in Stuttgart in an impressive way.
The 33-year-old Van Gerwen did not come into play at all in his second round match against Martin Lukeman: 1-6. The Englishman can be found on the Order of Merit – the global ranking for darts players – no less than 68 places lower than the Brabant number 3 in the world, but there was little noticeable in the match.
The average of 89.77 over three arrows by Van Gerwen was in stark contrast to the 96.16 of 37-year-old Lukeman. The Dutchman missed no less than 13 of his 14 doubles and will therefore absolutely not be pleased with his finish percentage of 7.14. Lukeman did that a lot better with 6 out of 16 (finish percentage 37.5).
Win Noppert
Noppert impressed in his second round match in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart. The 31-year-old Frisian, who is in a strong phase of his career, won 6-4 against Michael Smith. Noppert broke the two-time World Cup finalist from England in the first game and did not relinquish that lead.
The average per three arrows was excellent for Noppert at 102.46. Smith’s 103.02 was even slightly higher, as was the double percentage (50 at 46.15) of bully boy† Yet it was Noppert who struck at the right moments and therefore won.
Van Duijvenbode, Klaasen and Jansen
Dirk van Duijvenbode, Jelle Klaasen and Danny Jansen, like Van Gerwen, failed to reach the eighth finals of the European Darts Grand Prix. Klaasen had to bow to Rob Cross 6-5, Jansen lost 6-4 to Brendan Dolan and Van Duijvenbode – despite his usual energetic turnout, see below – lost 6-4 against Nathan Rafferty.
The eighth finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are on the program in Stuttgart on Sunday. Noppert, the only remaining Dutchman, will face Rafferty in the eighth finals.
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