{"id":5151,"date":"2023-01-04T10:58:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T10:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/?p=5151"},"modified":"2023-01-04T10:58:16","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T10:58:16","slug":"nine-dart-smith-stuns-van-gerwen-to-become-world-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/news\/nine-dart-smith-stuns-van-gerwen-to-become-world-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine­dart Smith stuns van Gerwen to become World Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Smith produced the performance of his career to defeat Michael van Gerwen 7-4 and claim his first Cazoo World Darts Championship title in an incredible final at Alexandra Palace on Tuesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On his way to winning an all-time classic, Smith hit a nine-dart finish in the third leg of the second set which also saw Van Gerwen miss double 12 for a nine-darter.<\/p>\n

From 3-2 down, Smith produced a run of four straight sets to take control at 6-3, before going on to seal a famous win\u00a0which sees him become world number one for the first time.<\/p>\n

“The way I felt when I won will never be topped, no matter what I do in this sport in the future,”<\/em>\u00a0said an emotional Smith.<\/p>\n

“To be World Champion and world number one is amazing.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Michael let me off a lot and, for once, I finally took my chance.<\/em><\/p>\n

“In practice today I kept going 180-180-miss and I wanted to give the crowd what they deserved, a nine-darter.<\/em><\/p>\n

“When I won the Grand Slam I said I would eventually become World Champion and world number one.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I want to do what Michael [van Gerwen] has done, I want to dominate the sport but he’s still around!<\/em><\/p>\n

“It’s now 1-1 between us in World Championship finals, but I don’t think it will be the last.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Competing in his sixth World Championship final, Van Gerwen suffered a third defeat in the sport’s showpiece event.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman, who posted his first sub-100 average of the tournament, remains third on the Order of Merit.<\/p>\n

“Michael [Smith] played a phenomenal game, he deserves this win,”<\/em>\u00a0Van Gerwen reflected.<\/p>\n

“Of course, I had my chances – I missed too many doubles and when you don’t hit them you get punished.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I didn’t play too well in the last few sets but I can only blame myself for that, you have to take it on the chin.<\/em><\/p>\n

“When you lose games it’s hard but it’s part of the job. I will be back.”<\/em><\/p>\n

A game of the highest quality saw Smith end the match with a 100.87 average and an incredible 22 180s, while Van Gerwen posted a 99.58 average with 15 maximums.<\/p>\n

The opening set saw Van Gerwen land an 84 checkout\u00a0to break throw and win his 14th consecutive set of the tournament.<\/p>\n

The second set featured the best ever leg of darts in recorded competition as Smith hit a nine-dart finish in the same leg which saw Van Gerwen miss an attempt at double for a nine-darter of his own.<\/p>\n

This sealed a break of throw for Smith, who then tidied up 25 in two darts to wrap up the set and level the match at 1-1.<\/p>\n

After missing the bullseye for a 170 checkout, Smith wrapped up the third set, before Van Gerwen took the fourth without conceding a leg to level the tie at 2-2.<\/p>\n

In a fifth set decider, Van Gerwen broke throw in 14 darts to take the lead for what proved to be the final time in the match at 3-2.<\/p>\n

However, the key passage of the match saw Smith win 12 of the next 16 legs to take a 6-3 lead in sets.<\/p>\n

Van Gerwen stopped the rot with a 105 checkout before the set ten decider saw\u00a0Smith take the first shot at a match-winning checkout, but he was unable to land a 167 before Van Gerwen found a last-dart double 16 to stay alive.<\/p>\n

Van Gerwen then took a 2-0 lead in the 11th set, but\u00a0Smith hit back with a 106 checkout, followed up with a 15-dart break to move within a leg of the title.<\/p>\n

Smith kicked off the deciding leg with back-to-back 180s before sealing victory with an 11-darter on double eight to seal a stunning 7-4 success.<\/p>\n

2022\/23 Cazoo World Darts Championship
\n<\/strong>Tuesday January 3
\nFinal
\n<\/strong>Michael Smith 7-4 Michael van Gerwen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Smith produced the performance of his career to defeat Michael van Gerwen 7-4 and claim his first Cazoo World…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124],"tags":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"de":5154,"en":5151},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5153,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5151\/revisions\/5153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdc.fw-web.space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}