Michael van Gerwen ended 12 months without glory on the PDC European Tour with a superb triumph in the 2023 Bl\u00e5kl\u00e4der Belgian Darts Open on Sunday night, defeating Luke Humphries 8-6 in the final.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman has dominated the European Tour stage in the past decade with 35 tournament wins, but had seen the last of those come in May 2022.<\/p>\n
However, he made amends in style to scoop the \u00a330,000 top prize in front of a sell-out Belgian crowd at the Oktoberhallen.<\/p>\n
A significant Sunday night saw Van Gerwen avenge his recent semi-final whitewash to Josh Rock at the Austrian Darts Open with a brilliant 7-3 win when they met once more in the last four.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen also saw off Martin Schindler in a dramatic third round contest on Sunday afternoon which went to a deciding leg, before powering past Gary Anderson in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
The final saw Van Gerwen surge to victory from 5-4 down with three successive legs to take command before pinning double 16 to ensure a memorable success.<\/p>\n
“It means a lot to me,” said Van Gerwen, who also returns to second place on the PDC Order of Merit above Peter Wright.<\/p>\n
“You have to defeat really good dart players – Gary Anderson, Josh Rock and in the final someone who is always good on the Euro Tour, Luke Humphries.<\/p>\n
“I knew that if I won today I’d be above Peter Wright in the world rankings and of course that’s really important.<\/p>\n
“You always have to give 100% and that’s what I do all the time. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way, but I’m a fighter and I never give up, and I keep fighting until the end.<\/p>\n
“That’s what I did today and that’s why I won, and it’s really good for myself.”<\/p>\n
The final’s opening ten legs all went with throw, with Humphries twice missing chances to break and also agonisingly missing double 12 for a nine-darter in leg six – returning to take that leg in ten darts.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen followed up a 129 checkout in leg ten with the first break in the next, stepping in on double 16 after Humphries missed double six.<\/p>\n
Two further misses from Humphries were punished as Van Gerwen moved 7-5 up, and though a missed match dart allowed the world number six to keep the tie alive, his rival closed out victory on double 16.<\/p>\n
The defeat for Humphries was his third in a European Tour final this year, having lost out twice previously to Dave Chisnall.<\/p>\n
He edged out Belgium’s Andy Baetens in a thrilling third round tie to open Sunday’s action, and after seeing off Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals he survived a missed match dart from Dirk van Duijvenbode in a high-quality semi-final.<\/p>\n
“I don’t feel disappointed, I think I played well,” said Humphries. “I played an A+ Michael van Gerwen and you can’t make a mistake. I did in a couple of legs, I missed a dart here and there and I got punished.<\/p>\n
“I thought I played a good game but a couple of mistakes cost me and if I’d took those finishes out I probably would have won.<\/p>\n
“It was a closely-contested game, it was nip and tuck and he pulled out the good legs at the end. I was proud of myself the way I played, but the better player won in the end.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, it’s always disappointing to lose but I’ll get that title this year soon, I’m sure. I’ve run into three brilliant performances in the final, but it’s coming.”<\/p>\n
Van Duijvenbode was denied a spot in his second European Tour final of the year in agonising fashion, missing one match dart for a 7-5 win before Humphries took out 81 on the bull in the deciding leg.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman had proven too clinical for Canada’s Matt Campbell and Wales’ Jonny Clayton earlier in the day as he secured a spot in a third semi-final of the 2023 European Tour.<\/p>\n
Rock performed superbly in his wins over reigning champion Chisnall and World Champion Michael Smith to book his spot in a second European Tour semi-final of the year, only for Van Gerwen to avenge his loss a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n
Scottish star Anderson was a quarter-finalist in his second event after returning to the European Tour, defeating Rob Cross in round three before losing out to Van Gerwen.<\/p>\n
Chisnall’s title defence was ended by Rock as he succumbed to a 104 average from the Northern Irish youngster in Sunday afternoon’s third round, shattering the Englishman’s hopes of a third European Tour win of 2023.<\/p>\n
The PDC European Tour continues next weekend with the Gambrinus Czech Darts Open in Prague, where 48 players will be taking part in the year’s eighth event.<\/p>\n
The tournament will be broadcast live on Viaplay, DAZN and PDCTV (excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and through bookmakers’ websites worldwide.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2023 Bl\u00e5kl\u00e4der Belgian Darts Open<\/strong> <\/p>\n Evening Session<\/strong> <\/p>\n Semi-Finals<\/strong> <\/p>\n Final<\/strong> Michael van Gerwen ended 12 months without glory on the PDC European Tour with a superb triumph in the 2023…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[943,109,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-pdc-europe","category-results"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nSunday May 7<\/strong>
\nAfternoon Session<\/strong>
\nThird Round<\/strong>
\nLuke Humphries 6-5 Andy Baetens
\nNathan Aspinall 6-4 Danny Noppert
\nJonny Clayton 6-3 Damon Heta
\nDirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Matt Campbell
\nJosh Rock 6-4 Dave Chisnall
\nMichael Smith 6-4 Gabriel Clemens
\nMichael van Gerwen 6-5 Martin Schindler
\nGary Anderson 6-2 Rob Cross<\/p>\n
\nQuarter-Finals<\/strong>
\nLuke Humphries 6-2 Nathan Aspinall
\nDirk van Duijvenbode 6-4\u00a0Jonny Clayton
\nJosh Rock 6-1 Michael Smith
\nMichael van Gerwen 6-1 Gary Anderson<\/p>\n
\nLuke Humphries 7-6 Dirk van Duijvenbode
\nMichael van Gerwen 7-3 Josh Rock<\/p>\n
\nMichael van Gerwen 8-6 Luke Humphries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"