Quarter-Finals for MVG and RVB in PC17

Wim Blokpoel - Today another Super Series started, with Players Championship 17 2021, as always with a load of Dutch players!

Dutch number one and three time world champ Michael van Gerwen started with a bye, and then beat David Evans 6-3. In the last 32 MVG averaged 104 in beating fellow Dutchman Martijn Kleermaker 6-3 who averaged 102,5 himself. Round 4 saw MVG in another Dutch clash, this time with ‘The Freeze’ Danny Noppert, who he beat 6-5, after Noppert was 4-1 up! In the quarter-finals MVG faced his rival and world number one Gerwyn Price for the first time this year. It was MVG who got 5-2 up, missed a matchdart and averaged over 109 but in some way, he still lost 5-6 to Price who averaged just over the ton.

Five time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld started today, let’s just say UNREAL!!!! An average of 115,73 (!!!!!!) to beat Justin Pipe 6-1, what a performance! RVB then followed it with a 6-4 win to Devon Petersen on the stream. In his board final the legend took on ‘Yozza’ Jamie Hughes, who he comfortably beat with 6-2. In round 4 RVB beat Chris Dobey 6-3 to get into the quarter-finals! RVB then lost 2-6 to eventual champion Stephen Bunting, but still an importsnt run to keep his World Matchplay hopes alive, although he still needs to win quite some money!

Before Noppert lost to MVG as mentioned earlier, he averaged almost 105 in round 1 to whitewash Nick Kenny! In the last 64 another great performance, average of 100,8 and 6-2 win over Jack Main and into the board final, where Noppert beat Gabriel Clemens averaging 101,6 (great again!) before losing to MVG. In round 1 MVG’s mate Vincent van der Voort played an all Dutch first round against Jeffrey de Zwaan which he won 6-3. VVDV then beat Alan Tabern with the same scoreline, while averaging 100,6. In round 3 it was another Dutchman Van der Voort defeated, in Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2! In the last 16, VVDV lost 1-6 to Dimitri van den Bergh. Maik Kuivenhoven had another good day today, as he had quite often the last 2 years. He first beat Eddie Lovely 6-4, and then caused an upset on the stream, as he recovered from 0-3 down to beat Nathan Aspinall 6-5! In his board final Kuivenhoven won again, 6-3 against two-time world champion Adrian Lewis. The last 16 was the end for Kuivenhoven as well, as he lost to José de Sousa 2-6, despite averaging 100. Still another good run for him though.

Earlier mentioned Van Duijvenbode, before losing to Van der Voort, beat Irish Steve Lennon 6-3, and Lithuanian Darius Labanauskas 6-2. Final Dutch player who made his board final was Martijn Kleermaker, who beat William O’Connor 6-4 in round 1. The man from Harderwijk then beat Northern Irish Mickey Mansell 6-3, before losing to MVG as mentiond earlier.

3 more Dutch wins today. Niels Zonneveld beat Belgian Geert de Vos 6-5, before he lost 4-6 to Damon Heta. Ron the Bomb Meulenkamp edged out Wayne Jones 6-5, before ‘The Bomb’ lost 3-6 to ‘The Bomber’ Steve Brown. Jermaine Wattimena, finally, beat Scottish Ryan Murray 6-3, and then in the last 64 got edged out by German Florian Hempel 5-6. The man from Westervoort now has the final spot in the World Matchplay race, so has 3 more very important days. 

Apart from De Zwaan, 5 more Dutch players lost in round 1, this were: Derk Telnekes (5-6 to Hughes), Geert Nentjes (4-6 to Boris Koltsov), Berry van Peer (3-6 to William Borland), Kevin Doets (5-6 to Krzysztof Kciuk) and Jelle Klaasen (5-6 to John Henderson). Another report tomorrow!