Van Gerwen wins Austrian Darts Open
Wim Blokpoel - This weekend the 4th European Tour event of 2022 was played: the PDC Austrian Darts Open in Graz.
6 Dutchmen started in round 1. The event was opened by Eurotour debutant Danny Jansen, who took on fellow Eurotour debutant Radek Szaganski from Poland. Jansen played amazing, and a 10-darter saw him take a 3-0 lead. Eventually it was a 6-1 win for the 19 year old Dutchmen, who averaged 101,0 in his Eurotour debut! German Darts Grand Prix quarter-finalist Wesley Plaisier, was in form as he took on Canadian Eurotour debutant Matt Cambell. It was another good performance from Plaisier, but it was Campbell who hit 8 perfect darts, but then missed the double 12 for a nine-darter by miles. In the end, Plaisier won it 6-3 with an average of 96,1. Last Dutchman in the afternoon was Berry van Peer, but he had a poor performance as he averaged below 80 in a 1-6 defeat to Jim Williams.
In the evening we had an all Dutch clash between UK Open champioj Danny Noppert, and Westervoort’s Jermaine Wattimena. It went all the way to 5-5, and in the 11th leg Noppert took out 104 to win 6-5 and go through to the last 32! Leidschendam’s Jeffrey de Zwaan took on home favourite Mensur Suljovic in a tough game, but he did went 5-4 up. De Zwaan fhen missed two matchdarts, as Suljovic took out 73 to make it 5-5. It was Suljovic who missed two matchdarts in leg 10, as De Zwaan edged him out and won 6-5!
6 Dutchman in round 2, and we started with Wesley Plaisier who took on Nathan Aspinall. At 2-2 it was Aspinall who broke through, and he eventually won the game after hitting a 106-finish, as Plaisier lost 3-6. ‘The Freeze’ Danny Noppert played against Belgian number one Dimitri van den Bergh. Noppert won the first 2 legs both in 14 darts, and then hit a 129-finish for a 3-0 lead! 3-0 became 5-1, but Van den Bergh fought back to 5-3. It was Noppert who won leg 9 though, as he won 6-3 and went through to the last 16! Danny Jansen took on mosr recent Eurotour winner Luke Humphries in the saturday evening session. It was 2-2, but then Jansen broke throw and took a 4-2 lead! Hunphries couldn’t get going anymore, and a 14-finish in a 14 dart leg saw Jansen get a massive 6-2 victory and make round 3 in his Eurotour debut!
In the evening, Mighty Michael van Gerwen took on Scottish Cameron Menzies. At 3-1 up for MVG, Menzies took out 170 to make it 3-2. However, a load of missed doubles for Menzies meant that Van Gerwen won it 6-3, despite only averaging just above 90. Jeffrey de Zwaan played Premier League Champion Jonny Clayton in round 2. After 2 breaks, everything went with the darts until 4-5. JDZ had to hold throw to go to a last leg, but missed two dsrts to do so, as Clayton managed to win 6-4 despite a lot of missed doubles. Aubergenius Dirk van Dujjvenbode started his event in the last 32, against another crowd favourite in Rowby-John Rodriguez. DVD had a 3-0 lead, but RJR fought back all the way to 3-3. It was the Dutchman who won the game though, 6-4 as he made the last 16 as fourth Dutchman.
In the last 16 it was Noppert who took on Clayton. Noppert started almost perfect with a 10-darter, and played much better than Clayton which resulted in ‘The Freeze’ taking a 5-0 lead! Clayton managed to hit a 144-finish to make 5-2, but that was it as Noppert got leg 8 for a 6-2 win as he went into the quarter-finals. Holten’s Danny Jansen played ‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans, and it was very rapid. Evans averaged 102,5 while Jansen averaged in the low 80’s, and saw himself go out 0-6. Still a great Eurotour debut for ‘The Mullet’ though! In an high quality game, Dutch number one Michael van Gerwen took on James Wade. MVG was 2-4 down, but then turned beast-mode on and at 3-4 the Dutchman hit a 170-finish for 4-4, and followed it with an 11-darter to went 5-4 up! 2 missed matchdarts by Van Gerwen in the 10th leg though, as we went into a decider. In that decider it was a 14-darter, as Van Gerwen won 6-5 and reached the last 8. Van Duijvenbode played another Austrian in Zoran Lerchbacher, but had a very easy 6-1 win, as we got an all Dutch quarter-final!
In that Dutch quarter-final, Van Gerwen and Van Duijvenbode played each other! Van Gerwen immediately started with an 11-darter, and rushed into a 4-0 lead! He eventually beat Van Duijvenbode 6-1 having hit 3 11-darters in the game, and averaging well over a ton. Danny Noppert also continued his magnificant run, as he hit a 164-finish and led Joe Cullen 5-1. 5-1 became 6-2, and just another semi-final for Danny Noppert!
In the semi-finals, Noppert played against Aspinall. At 2-2, Aspinall’s injury really got to him though after a very long day, and despite averaging just over 90 it was an easy 7-2 win for Joure’s Noppert. We could have an all Dutch final, as Van Gerwen took on Stephen Bunting in the other semi. It was another scrappy semi-final, and Van Gerwen had a 6-5 lead when he broke Bunting’s throw to get over the line 7-5, also with an average just over 90.
An all Dutch final between Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert! Van Gerwen easily took a 3-0 lead, but missed doubles made Noppert go back to 3-3. At 6-5, it was Noppert who missed costly doubles, as Mighty Mike broke throw and went 7-5 up, one leg away feom the title. Van Gerwen managed to held throw, as he won the final 8-5 and crowned himself the Austrian Darts Open for the 4th time, and won his 4th ranking event of the year!
