MVG reaches semi-finals at Players Championship 13

Wim Blokpoel - Today the PDC returned, with Super Series 4: 4 more Players Championship events, starting with number 13, held in Milton Keynes. And a lot of Dutchmen involved!

Eyes were sat on Dutch number one Michael van Gerwen who is halfway the year still looking for his first PDC Title. In the first round MVG comfortably beat Jake Jones 6-1, and Mighty Mike then went on to beat Ryan Meikle 6-2 averaging almost 102! Easing into his board final, Van Gerwen had another 6-2 victory over German Martin Schindler. In the last 16 it was a much tougher tie. MVG faced Mickey Mansell, who was leading in the entire match, until 5-5 where MVG broke throw and felt over the line 6-5! The quarter-finals went a lot easier against fellow Dutchman Martijn Kleermaker, who was beaten 6-1 with an average of over 107 for MVG. Unfortunately Van Gerwen followed it with a poor performance in the semi-finals and a massive 2-7 defeat against eventual champion Joe Cullen. A good day for MVG, but still not a title...

Earlier mentioned Kleermaker made his way to the quarter-finals like this: first he came through an all Dutch tie against Jeffrey de Zwaan. Kleermaker survived matchdarts, averaged 3 points lower than JDZ but still won 6-5. He then beat Chas Barstow 6-4 despite being 0-4 down, and in the last 32 it was another Dutch tie, against Maik Kuivenhoven, which went all the way. Kleermaker was the winner once more. Then in round 4 Kleermaker got another comeback after being 0-3 down against two time World Champ Adrian Lewis, and the Dutch Giant went on to win 6-4 before losing to MVG. Kleermaker now is placed 16th in the pro tour rankings for the World Matchplay, so needs to perform well in the last 7 events to make his Matchplay debut! Aubergenius Dirk van Duijvenbode started beating Scotty Dog Mitchell 6-3. In the last 64 another 6-3 for DVD against Jason Heaver (As Dan Dawson likes to say Jason Heaver, tourcard achiever). In his board final Van Duijvenbode made 3 out of 3 6-3 victory’s in beating Dave Chisnall with an average of 103,2. In round 4 a 6-1 win over World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks and Dirk was the 3rd Dutchman in thr last 8! This was the end for Dirk as he lost 4-6 to Premier League Champion Jonny Clayton who averaged over 105 in their game.

Earlier mentioned Maik Kuivenhoven who lost to Kleermaker, also got 2 wins before that. World Number Two Peter Wright was shocked by Kuivenhoven in round 1 as the Dutchman beat him 6-2. Another win from Maik came against Welshman Nick Kenny, 6-3. Danny Noppert had another usual board final today. The Freeze averaged 102,6 in destroying Ritchie Edhouse 6-2. In the last 64 Noppert then had another ton plus average in another 6-2 win over Terrier Peter Jacques. In the last 32 Noppert unfortunately missed matchdarts and lost 5-6 to good old Steve Beaton. Talking about old, but especially talking about good, five time world champion Raymond van Barneveld also came in action today. Barney won 6-1 in a Dutch affair with Lorenzo Pronk in the last 128. In round 2 RVB played on stream against Cool Hand Luke Humphries. Van Barneveld won it 6-3, and then played Michael Smith in the last 32. Ir was another Dutchman in a last leg today, and despite a 3-0 and 4-2 lead RVB still lost 5-6 to Smith. An ok day for Barney who is now only just outside the World Grand Prix spots.

A nice amount of 6 more Dutch victories today. Niels Zonneveld beat Russian Boris Koltsov 6-4 and then played James Wade in round 2. As everyone does against Wade, Zonneveld hit a 9-darter! The talent from Uitgeest hit the only one of today, but unfortunately it was only 1 of 2 legs won against Wade (2-6). Jelle Klaasen got another important win in the tourcard race, beating Matthew Edgar 6-5, but Klaasen then lost big 1-6 to Jason Lowe, J-Lo averaged almost 101. Non-tourcard holder Kevin Doets destroyed Austrian Rowby-John Rodriguez 6-1 in the first round! Doets then got edged out 5-6 by Callan Rydz. Jermaine Wattimena won an all Dutch first round against Ryan de Vreede, 6-2, before playing on stream. On stream it was a poor performance and big 3-6 loss to Mansell. Geert Nentjes beat the other Rodriguez brother, Rusty-Jake, by 6-4. Nentjes then only lost 5-6 in round 2 to man of the year Clayton. Final Dutch win of the day came from Vincent van der Voort who averaged 99 beating Croatian Boris Krcmar 6-3, after which VVDV lost another 5-6 to Ryan Searle.

Yet unmentioned first round defeats came from: Berry van Peer (6-4 against Mike de Decker), Luc Peters (2-6 against Kenny), Ron Meulenkamp (3-6 against Justin Pipe) and Derk Telnekes (1-6 against Martin Lukeman).