Quarter-Final for Zonneveld at PC2

Wim Blokpoel - Last sunday the second PDC Players Championship event of 2022 has been played.

Uitgeest’s Niels Zonneveld started with two 6-4 wins against both Shaun Wilkinson and Jeff Smith. In round 3 Zonneveld then comfortably beat Belgian Geert de Vos 6-2 to move into the last 16! Here he played saturday’s winner Luke Humphries, and Zonneveld caused quite an upset as he managed to beat Humphries 6-4! In the quarter-finals Zonneveld played Damon Heta, and despite his highest average of the day (94,2) Zonneveld lost 1-6 and has to wait longer for his first semi-final. This run did see Zonneveld move up 1 places on the rankings from 77 to 75, which is important for his goal for 2022: reaching the top 64 to save his tourcard.

After another disappointing event saturday, Michael van Gerwen was looking for a big result. He started well with a 6-3 win over Danny Baggish and an average of almost a ton. An avsrage of 99,9 in round 2 then saw him edge out Ritchie Edhouse who averaged a ton himself. However, once again in the last 32 Van Gerwen lost, this time 4-6 to Challenge Tour player Stephen Burton! Maik Kuivenhoven started with a 6-3 victory over Steve Haggerty. In the last 64 he then beat Adam Gawlas 6-4, before Kuivenhoven got edged out in round 3 5-6 by European Champion Rob Cross. 

Castricum’s Jimmy Hendriks had a good return to the tour. In round 1 he edged out Jack Main 6-5, and in an all Dutch tie he then won 6-2 against Holten’s Danny Jansen! In his board final Hendriks also lost to Heta, 3-6. In the last 128 Kevin Doets beat Joe Murnan 6-4. In round 2 Doets caused a great upset as he beat Masters Champion and 6th seed Joe Cullen 6-3 while averaging 96,7! In round 3 Doets lost, just like on saturday, this time he got edged out 5-6 by Jamie Clark despite a 97 average, as Clark averaged 102,9! 

Before his defeat, Jansen surprisingly edged out Ross Smith 6-5! Five time world champ Raymond van Barneveld started his day with an easy 6-2 win over Brett Claydon. In the last 64 RVB also lost to Burton, 4-6. The last Dutch win of the day came from Luc Peters who averaged 95,2 in a 6-2 win against Mickey Mansell, before he lost 2-6 to Austrian Mensur Suljovic. 

Martijn Kleermaker lost in round 1 on the stream 5-6 to German number one Gabriel Clemens. A very disappointing weekend for him, and also for Dutch Destroyer Vincent van der Voort who lost in round 1 again, now to Jeff Smith. 12 seed Dirk ‘Aubergenius’ Van Duijvenbode had a surprising heavily defeat in round 1, as he lost 1-6 to Richie Burnett with a very poor 81 average.

Other Dutch first round defeats came from: Ron Meulenkamp (4-6 against William Borland), Berry van Peer (5-6 against Darren Webster), Jules van Dongen (2-6 against Humphries), Jermaine Wattimena (2-6 against Stephen Bunting), Damian Mol (3-6 against Steve West) and Geert Nentjes (4-6 against Stu Wilson).