Recap - Danny Noppert wins UK Open

Wim Blokpoel - Last weekend the 2022 PDC Cazoo UK Open was played. Here a recap, for every single round.

ROUND 1

In the last 160, 8 Dutchmen were starting their 2022 UK Open. Luc Peters had a very comfortablye 6-0 victory over Riley’s qualifier Paul Marsh, while Danny Jansen had a grrat debut start, beating Liam Meek 6-2. Wesley Plaisier got 4-3 and 5-4 up, but still lost 5-6 to Polish Radek Szaganski. Castricum’s Jimmy Hendriks beat Darren Beveridge 6-3, while Jurjen van der Velde had an impressive 6-4 win over Mickey Mansell. Damian Mol came back from 2-4 down, and survived multiple matchdarts from Northern Irish talent Josh Rock who he eventually beat 6-5. Dutch American and former Monthly Guest Jules van Dongen made his debut on stage 2, where he edged out Belgian Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-5. And finally, on the main stage Jelle Klaasen saw himself 2-4 down, but the former Lakeside World Champion also managed to win 6-5!

ROUND 2 

The 7 Dutch first round winners, were joined by 4 more players, making it 11 Dutchmen playing in thr last 128. Unfortunately, Jimmy Hendriks lost 4-6 to Belgian Kenny Neyens. But Damian Mol managed to beat John Brown 6-3, Brown who made round 5 last year! Luc Peters made it 2-1 in Dutch-Belgian meetings as he beat Geert de Vos 6-2, but the biggest win of this round came from Danny Jansen: he beat former Lakeside World Champion Scott Mitchell 6-4! Urk’s Geert Nentjes had a comfortable 6-3 win over Jake Jones, while Jelle Klaasen found some form as he averaged an astonishing 104,2 (the biggest average of this round) in demolishing Cameron Menzies 6-1! Jurjen van der Velde did lose 3-6 to Jim Williams. Berry van Peer did win 6-3 in an all Dutch tie against Kevin Doets! Jukes van Dingen played on the main stage, but the nerves got to him as he lost 3-6 to Connor Scutt. Who did sin was Uitgeest’s Niels Zonneveld: he edged out Jon Worsly 6-5 on stage 2, throwing a 13-darter in the decider!

ROUND 3

Again 7 Dutch winners, and in the last 96 they were joined by 6 other Dutchies making it a total of 13! Geert Nentjes gave the Dutch a 3-1 lead over the Belgians, as he came from 0-4 down to edge out Kenny Neyens 6-5! A disappointing result for Martijn Kleermaker who saw a 4-1 lead disappear, as Jason Heaver beat him 6-5. Danny Jansen had another good game, but lost 2-6 to Rapid Ricky Evans who averaged over a ton! Another ton average came from Ron The Bomb Meulenkamp, in a 6-2 win over American Danny Baggish! Berry van Peer got into another all Dutch tie, but this time he was the loser: 2-6 against Niels Zonneveld. Damian Mol saw his good run end, as he lost 3-6 to Simply Steve West, but Jermaine Wattimena did win: 6-5 over Ross Montgomery, with a 14-darter in leg 11. Another disappointment for Jeffrey de Zwaan, as the black cobra lost 2-6 to Irish talent Keane Barry, and Luc Peters lost 2-6 to Kim Huybrechts on stage 2, making the Dutch-Belgian clash 3-2. Jelle Klaasen impressively, did win again: 6-4 against Jason Lowe. Raymond van Barneveld played on the main stage, and the 2 time UK Open champion averaged over a ton all game, only to miss 8 matchdsrts in a decider, and lose 5-6 to William Borland who missed loads of matchfsrts himself. Who did impress, was Maik Kuivenhoven with a 6-1 victory over World Master John O’Shea.

ROUND 4

In the last 64, the 6 Dutch winners were joined by 4 other Dutchman making it 10 left in the field. Niels Zonneveld had a massive 10-5 win over Jim Williams! Aubergenius Dirk van Duijvenbode averaged almost a ton in a 10-6 victory against Willie Borland. Geert Nentjes continued his big run with a 10-5 win over German Florian Hempel, as Joure’s Danny Noppert demolished Ryan Meikle 10-3. Jelle Klaasen’s run came to an end, as he lost 6-10 to Devon Petersen despite averaging almost a ton.  Ron Meulenkamp got back from 6-9 down to edge out Krzysztof Kciuk 10-9! Maik Kuivenhoven did lose ina last leg 9-10, to Australian Simon Whitlock. An all Dutch clash was played between Vincent van der Voort and Jermaine Wattimena, and it was Van der Voort who won it 10-5. On the main stage a battle of World Champions was played between Dutch number one Michael van Gerwen and Flying Scotsman Gary Anderson. It was a tough battle, but Van Gerwen managed to win it 10-7.

ROUND 5

7 Dutchmen were left when we went into the last 32. Urk’s Geert Nentjes took a surprising 6-3 lead over Austrian number one Mensur Suljovic, averaging well over a ton, but Suljovic fought back as Nentjes eventually lost 8-10 with an average of 95,7 with Suljovic averaging 100,4. Vincent van der Voort couldn’t get going and was demolished 2-10 by Callan Rydz, while Niels Zonneveld was 2-6 down against Keane Barry, fought back, missed matchdarts and eventually lost 9-10 with Barry throwing out 121 while Zonneveld was waiting on a two darter. Ron Meulenkamp lost as well, 3-10 on stage 2 against defending champion James Wade but who did win was Danny Noppert! The Freeze beat Devon Petersen 10-8, after being 7-2 up in a game where both almost hit a 9-darter! Michaek van Gerwen played on the main stage again, but this time he lost 4-10 to Damon Heta despite an average of 101,6 as Heta averaged 102,5 himself! A second win in this round came from Dirk van Duijvenbode, who beat German Martin Schindler 10-5 while averaging 105,8!

ROUND 6

Only 2 Dutchmen left in the last 16, and…. they played each other! Noppert against Van Duijvenbode on the main stage! Van Duijvenbode took an early 2-1 lead, but Noppert an astonishing 9 legs on the spin to win 10-2 with an average of 99,1!

QUARTER-FINALS

For the first time in his career, Noppert made the last 8 of the UK Open. Here he faced new Australian number one Damon Heta. Heta couldn’t get going at all, and Noppert had a very dominating 10-5 win to make his 4th semi-final in a PDC tv-tournament.

SEMI-FINALS

In the semi’s, Noopert surprisingly played Irish William O’Connor. A very meh game from both, but at 9-9 it was Noppert who managed to get over the line 11-9 to make his first ranking PDC tv final!

FINAL

So, into the final we went! Noppert took on Bullyboy Michael Smith in a battle for a first PDC major title! Smith took a comfortable 3-0 lead, but Noppert managed to end that streak and won 2 of his own to only go 2-3 down at the first commercial break. 2-3 then became 4-5, but in leg 10 Noppert hit a 17-darter to level at 5-5 in the second commercial break! 5-5 went on to be 9-9, with a best of 3 legs to decide who would pick up the trophy. Smith held in 17 darts to go 10-9 up, and in leg 20 it was Michael Smith who got the first matchdart, on the bullseye and he just missed it! Noppert made it 10-10 and we went all the way into a deciding leg! Smith couldn’t handle the pressure, while The Freeze kept his cool, hit a 13-darter to win 11-10 and become the 2022 UK Open champion! An incredible weekend for Danny Noppert, by far the biggest win of his career and he’s now a PDC major champion!