Recap - Van Gerwen wins German Darts Championship

Wim Blokpoel - This weekend the 2022 PDC German Darts Championship was played. Here a recap, from the second European Tour event of the year.

ROUND 1

In round 1, 6 Dutchmen started their event in Hildesheim. Luc Peters madd his Eurotour debut as he took on Scottish Alan Soutar. A nervy start, as Peters saw himself go 0-3 down. But he managed to fight back, all the way to a level game at 3-3. But in leg 7 Soutar hit a 107-finish to go 4-3 up, and Peters couldn’t come back as he lost 3-6. A game later, Castricum’s Jimmy Hendriks played against Martin Lukeman.Unfortunately for Hendriks, he couldn’t get going at all and eventually lost 2-6 being quite lucky to even win 2 legs. Third Dutchman on the stage in a row was Martijn Kleermaker who was still looking for his first ranking win in 2022! The Dutch Giant played Belgian Mario Vandenbogaerde in his task to do so. Both men kept holding throw until 4-4. Then Kleermaker hit a 96-finish to finally break the throw and go 5-4 up. He then managed to hold throw again for a 6-4 win and progress to round 2!

In the evening session Westervoort’s Jermaine Wattimena took on crowd favourite Martin Schindler. A brilliant start from Schindler, saw Wattimena go 1-4 down. But the Machine Gun suddenly hit a 10-darter for 2-4 and eventuallu levelled 4-4! Schindler then threw a 132-finish, but Wattimena didn’t give up yet and hit a 14-darter for 5-5! In the deciding leg Wattimena got a matchdart, and…. missed it! Schindler did hit his matchdart, as it was a 5-6 defeat for Wattimena. An all Dutch first round was played between Vincent van der Voort and Gian van Veen. Van der Voort got 3-0 up quite comfortably and then missed darts for 4-0 as Van Veen made it 3-1. At 4-1 VVDV threw an amazing 156-finish for a 5-1 lead! Van Veen did get another leg, but it was Van der Voort who won 6-2 with a great performance!

ROUND 2

4 Dutchmen left in round 2, two seeds, two unseeds. Kleermaker took on Rob Cross. Unfortunately, Kleermaker couldn’t get going at all while Cross averaged almost a ton, as it was a 2-6 defeat for the Dutch Giant. Aubergenius Dirk van Duijvenbode then started his tournament against Lithuanian Darius Labanauskas. Van Duijvenbode had a very easy start and went 3-0 up, but then Lucky D woke up as he made it 3-2. Two solid 15-darters for the Dutchman made it 5-2 though, and Labanauskas managed to get one more leg before Dirk finished it 6-3! 

Vincent van der Voort played Ryan Searle in round 2 after his great win over Gian van Veen. It was another great start for VVDV as he took a 4-2 lead. He then missed 1 dart for 5-2, as Searle made it 4-3 and even 4-4. At 4-4 it was Searle who made it 3 legs in a row, and even 4 as Van der Voort lost 4-6 after a 4-2 lead… Dutch number one Michael van Gerwen started his evenr against Spanish José Justicia. It was a ton plus average for MVG with Justicia averaging just over 90 but it was still only 3-3. However, Van Gerwen showed his dominance as he won 3 legs on the spin for a 6-3 victory!

ROUND 3

On sunday, Van Gerwen and Van Duijvenbode played in the last 16. Van Gerwen took on Martin Lukeman. It was a tough start for both, but it was Van Gerwen who took the 4-2 lead. However, Lukeman fought back to 4-4. Mighty Mike showed his experience though, and managed to win the game 6-4 despite only a low 90’s average. Van Duijvenbode played Cross in the last 16. It was a brilliant start for Cross, as Dirk saw himself go 0-3 down… He fought back, including with a 12-darter to 3-4 down but Cross kept scoring brilliantly and eventually it was a 3-6 defeat for Aubergenius.

SEMI-FINALS

Yes indeed: no quarter-finals for Van Gerwen: his opponent Peter Wright withdrew because of back problems, as MVG went into the semi’s where he played Belgium’s number one Dimitri van den Bergh. Van Gerwen started great and took a 3-1 lead. Van den Bergh fought back though to 3-3, but then MVG was the dominant player again and mate it 5-3. Once again Van Gerwen couldn’t keep this lead, and the Dreammaker levelled at 5-5. This became 6-6 as we went into a deciding leg! Van Gerwen had 114 left with Van den Bergh waiting on 28. Van Gerwen hit treble 20, 18, but missed a matchdart on double 18. Van den Bergh got 3 matchdsrts on 28 but missed them all! Van Gerwen then took out 36 and went into the final after surviving 3 matchdarts!

FINAL

One win away from his first Eurotour title since 2019, as Van Gerwen played Rob Cross. Cross had already won twice against a Dutchman, and was looking for his very first ever Eurotour title. And once again Cross started amazing, as Van Gerwen saw himself 1-4 down. But Mighty Mike wanted to win this title very bad, and hit two 12-darters and a 13-darter to level at 4-4. At 5-5 Van Gerwen even took the lead 6-5! He was unstoppable then, as an 11-darter and a 14-darter saw Van Gerwen win the final 8-5 with both men average well over a ton as MVG won the German Darts Championship for the third time in his career! A first title of the year for Michael van Gerwen, and a much better start of the year than in 2021!