Mikuru Suzuki was just one leg away from becoming the first woman to register a victory at the PDC World Championship after she staged a quite remarkable fightback against James Richardson at Alexandra Palace on Sunday night.
Continue reading “Suzuki agonisingly close to creating Ally Pally history!”
Phil Taylor whitewashed former World Youth champion Keegan Brown to reach his 25th World Championship quarter-final and set up a showdown against two-time world champion Gary Anderson on Friday evening, after another eventful day of action at the Alexandra Palace. Continue reading “PDC World Championship 2018: Day Twelve Report!”
Michael van Gerwen survived a scare to set up a World Championship quarter-final showdown against his old rival Raymond van Barneveld, whilst second seed Peter Wright suffered a shock second-round defeat to an inspired Jamie Lewis on a dramatic day of darts at the Alexandra Palace. Continue reading “PDC World Championship 2018: Day Eleven Report!”
Peter Wright kicked off his World Championship campaign with victory over Brazilian debutant Diogo Portela, as Kim Huybrechts and Cristo Reyes became the latest seeds to tumble as the first-round came to a close at the Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening. Continue reading “PDC World Championship 2018: Day Eight Report!”
Michael van Gerwen kicked off the defence of his European Championship title with a convincing win over his fellow countryman Jan Dekker, as the Huybrechts brothers were both condemned to deciding-leg defeats on a dramatic opening night in Hasselt on Thursday evening. Continue reading “European Championship: Day One Report!”
Michael van Gerwen will begin the defence of his European Championship title against fellow countryman Jan Dekker, whilst home favourite Kim Huybrechts takes on last year’s finalist Mensur Suljovic in Hasselt later this month. Continue reading “2017 European Championship Draw!”
James Wade’s hopes of qualifying for this month’s European Championship were dashed after he was dismantled by Nathan Aspinall on an eventful opening day at the European Darts Trophy in Gottingen on Friday evening. Continue reading “European Darts Trophy: Day One Report!”
Former European Tour winners James Wade, Vincent van der Voort and Mervyn King triumphed on an eventful opening day of the European Darts Open, as James Richardson produced the performance of the first-round in Leverkusen. Continue reading “European Darts Open: Day One Report!”
Adrian Lewis began his bid to win a second PDC European Tour title in Sindelfingen with a commanding 6-2 win over Stephen Bunting, whilst in-form Dutch star Jan Dekker produced the performance of the opening-round on a dramatic opening day at the HappyBet European Darts Grand Prix on Friday. Continue reading “European Darts Grand Prix: Day One Report!”
16-year-old host-nation qualifier Nico Blum sent the German crowd into raptures with a brilliant debut victory on the European Tour, as Vincent van der Voort, Mervyn King & Paul Nicholson also triumphed on a dramatic opening day of action at the German Darts Open in Saarbrucken on Friday. Continue reading “German Darts Open: Day One Report!”
Robert Thornton, Mervyn King and Paul Nicholson were three of the high-profile names to secure qualification through to the HappyBet German Darts Open on Friday evening, as Steve Beaton landed a spectacular nine-dart finish on a dramatic night of action in Barnsley. Continue reading “European Tour 3- UK Qualifier Report!”
Defending champion Michael van Gerwen survived a match dart in a thrilling tie against Simon Whitlock, as world champion Gary Anderson was whitewashed by James Wade in the opening-round of the European Championship in Hasselt, Belgium, on Friday evening.
However, the match of the night saw Michael van Gerwen come back from 5-3 down to edge out the rejuvenated Australian in a barnstormer. Van Gerwen endured a nightmare in the finishing department in the early stages, hitting just two of his 19 double attempts as Whitlock took out a stunning 170 outshot to lead 4-2.
Nevertheless, the world number one showed his class, landing four maximums, two 177’s and a 171 to instigate the fightback. MvG then spurned two match darts with Whitlock sat on 150 and ‘The Wizard’ found the requisite trebles, before wiring his match dart at D15. MvG returned to pin D8 to avoid a shock first-round exit.
Elsewhere, world champion Gary Anderson endured a horror show in Hasselt, as he was whitewashed 6-0 by James Wade. ‘The Machine’ averaged 94.93 and converted 75% of his doubles to secure his first ranking TV victory for ten months, after the world champion averaged a miserly 77 and had just two shots at double in the entire match. Continue reading “European Championship Day One Report: The world champ is whitewashed in Hasselt!”
James Richardson, Kyle Anderson, Jamie Caven, Wes Newton, Jonny Clayton, Steve West and Mark Frost all secured qualification for both the Austrian Darts Open and European Darts Open at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on Friday evening. However, it was Richardson who stole the show, hitting a 9-darter in qualification for European Tour event six.
Richardson qualified for the Austrian Darts Open after thrashing Mickey Mansell 6-1, before edging past Jay Foreman and Joe Murnan.’Ruthless’ then recorded a magnificent 9-darter against Justin Pipe in the first-round of qualifying for European Tour six, beating ‘The Force’ 6-3, before easing past Arron Monk to secure a qualification double.
Kyle Anderson also enjoyed a fine qualification double in Coventry. Kyle qualified for the fifth European Tour event of 2016 with successive 6-4 victories against Ryan Palmer and Darren Johnson respectively.
‘The Original’ then confirmed his spot in July’s European Darts Open in Dusseldorf with comprehensive wins over Steve McNally and Mark Barilli, dropping just three legs over both encounters.
Continue reading “European Tour 5/6 Qualifiers: 9-dart Richardson steals the show!”
It was an afternoon of shocks at the German Darts Masters, as James Wade, Robert Thornton, Kim Huybrechts and Terry Jenkins were all dumped out in round-two at the Ballhausforum, Dolce Hotel, Munich. Only two seeds from eight made it through, as the under-dogs prospered on Sunday afternoon.
Joe Cullen continued his fine run of form as he edged out eight-time major winner James Wade in a topsy-turvy contest. Cullen dominated the scoring stakes but only registered 27% on the doubles. ‘The Machine’ delivered a fine 141 finish to draw level at 4-4, but ‘The Rockstar’ won the final two legs to reach the third-round.
Chris Dobey produced the performance of the afternoon to defeat Robert Thornton 6-4 and reach the last 16. Dobey, mentored by world champion Gary Anderson, averaged 100.64 and fired in five maximums to dump out the World Grand-Prix champion. The youngster also registered 50% on the doubles to complete the upset.
Kim Huybrechts was another seed to tumble in round-two, as he was dismantled 6-1 by William O’Connor, who will be looking to replicate his run to the quarters here 12 months ago. The Belgian averaged a miserly 85 and hit just 16% on the doubles, and whilst the Irishman wasn’t at his best, he did enough to blow away ‘The Hurricane’.
Continue reading “Shocks galore at the German Darts Masters!”
New-Look Simon Whitlock began his Dutch Darts Masters campaign with a comfortable 6-2 victory over exciting Belgian star Mike De Decker, as ‘The Wizard’ sported glasses on the big stage for the very first time in Venray.
Whitlock, who won this title back in 2012, averaged 90.55 as he took advantage of a nervous De Decker, to set up a thrilling second-round tie against world number 12 Ian White tomorrow.
Whitlock showed glimpses of real quality, but struggled to sustain a high-level throughout. However, the Australian grew in confidence as he closed in on victory and sealed his progression to round-two with a superb 12-darter, rounded off with a clinical 102 checkout.
De Decker struggled for fluency, averaging just 83 in a disappointing afternoon. His young compatriot Dimitri van den Bergh also endured a frustrating afternoon, as he missed four match darts to defeat John Henderson in a scrappy contest. van den Bergh led 3-0 at one stage, but missed darts at D20 and D10 in the decider, enabling the Scot to sneak through.
Continue reading “Dutch Darts Masters: Round One Report & Results”
James Richardson was among one of the four players to secure tour-cards on day two at Q-School in Wigan on Thursday. Jonathan Worsley, Ted Evetts and Ryan Meikle also attained tour-cards, as qualifying school reaches its halfway point at the Robin Park Tennis Centre.
Richardson, who rose to prominence courtesy of a first-round World Championship victory over Five-Time world champion Raymond van Barneveld in December 2011, has endured a difficult few years on the circuit.
However, ‘Ruthless’ lived up to his nickname today, to guarantee his spot on the PDC Pro Tour until 2018. Richardson made a strong start to his campaign, dropping just three legs in defeating both Rhys Hayden and Damian Smith, to progress to the last 64.
Ross Smith, who recorded a nine-darter yesterday, awaited at this stage, but Richardson prevailed 5-3, before reaching the last eight, courtesy of successive deciding leg wins over Luke Woodhouse and Steve Brown.