Over 14,000 fans celebrated the tenth event of the Winamax PDC European Tour season over three days at the Ostermann-Arena in Leverkusen. Krzysztof Ratajski triumphed at the Elten Safety Shoes European Darts Open, securing the third European Tour title of his career.
The road to the final: from Hopp to van Veen to Aspinall
During the tournament, the Pole defeated Max Hopp, before going on to beat Gian van Veen – the number one seed at this event – and last year’s winner in Leverkusen, Nathan Aspinall.
In the first all-Polish semi-final in the history of the European Tour, he knocked out his compatriot Sebastian Bialecki 7–5. This was the first time ever that two Poles had reached the final session of a European Tour event.
Wattimena breaks his quarter-final curse
In the final, the Polish Eagle faced Jermaine Wattimena, who finally triumphed on his eighth attempt to get past the quarter-finals on the European Tour, advancing to the semi-finals visibly moved and emotional. There, he defeated last year’s finalist Damon Heta 7–3.
The Final: A Duel on a Knife-Edge
Ratajski got off to a commanding 3–0 start in the final, before missing two darts at the double that would have made it 4–0, thereby allowing Wattimena – who had struggled early on – back into the final. Five legs later, the Dutchman checked out 84 points via the bullseye, taking the lead for the first time in this final and extending it straight away in the following leg to 6–4. From that point on, the match was a nail-biter, as neither player could pull away significantly with a double hit rate of under 40 per cent.
“When I was ahead, I missed some crucial doubles. Nevertheless, it’s a deserved victory for Ratajski, as he also missed plenty of doubles and let me back into the match.”
This was also evident at 6–7, when Wattimena failed to force a potential decider with two darts at the double. One leg later, the Polish player, showing great composure, secured his third European Tour title on the double 10, following his victories in Gibraltar in 2019 and Jena in 2023.
“Winning the title today is truly unexpected – I would have been happy just to reach the quarter-finals or semi-finals. The fact that it was enough for victory in the end naturally makes me incredibly happy.”
Schmidt’s fairytale week
Host-nation qualifier Jan Schmidt thrilled the fans in Leverkusen: in his opening match, he came back from 1–5 down against the in-form Cameron Menzies to secure a 6–5 victory, thereby progressing to the second round. There, he was once again locked in a tight battle with Belgian Mike De Decker – and once again came out on top with a 6–5 win. It was not until the third round that the German’s fairytale week – having celebrated a day’s victory at the PDC Europe Next Gen just last weekend – came to an end against veteran James Wade. The other Host Nation Qualifiers, Jaimy van de Weerd and Daniel Klose, were knocked out in the first round, whilst Dragutin Horvat’s run came to an end in the second round.
Mixed fortunes for the German entrants
Niko Springer shone in his opening match with an average of over 105 points in his victory over Darius Labanauskas, but was subsequently defeated – on his birthday, of all days – by top seed Gian van Veen. Max Hopp prevailed in an emotional first-round clash against Rob Cross, before being knocked out in the second round by the eventual champion, Krzysztof Ratajski. Both Dominik Grüllich (Round 1) and Germany’s number one, Martin Schindler (Round 2), were defeated by Kevin Doets.
Top seeds once again fail to reach the semi-finals
As was the case in Kiel and Bratislava, the semi-finals in Leverkusen took place without any of the eight top seeds. Stephen Bunting, Danny Noppert and Chris Dobey lost their opening matches, whilst Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen, Jonny Clayton and Wessel Nijman were knocked out in the round of 16. Van Veen’s third-round clash with tournament winner Ratajski also served as a dress rehearsal for their upcoming encounter at the World Matchplay next week. Only James Wade made it through the last 16, before his run came to an end in the quarter-finals against Sebastian Bialecki of Poland.
Following a short summer break, the PDC European Tour resumes from 28 to 30 August at the Hungarian Darts Trophy at the MVM Dome in Budapest.
