SOuverän he made it to the round of 16. Devon Petersen beamed. After his victories against Dirk van Duijvenbode and Ian White, he had defeated the world champion in the last game of the group stage at the Grand Slam of Darts. 5-2 against Peter Wright.
“I am happy to be the group winner,” said the “African Warrior”, who will now face another climber in this season, which has been mixed up by the corona pandemic in the round of 16. The Australian Damon Heta is waiting on Saturday. The tournament will be broadcast live by the DAZN * streaming service. With another success, Petersen would be even lower in the top 30 of the world rankings.
Shock in the preliminary round: Peter Wright was eliminated after defeats against Dirk van Duijvenbode and Devon Petersen
Source: LAWRENCE FUNNY
After the most successful season of his career, the South African is going to the World Cup as a seeded player in mid-December for the first time. So Petersen is in a good mood, but he used the interview after the win to focus on another topic.
Life on the professional tour has always been associated with hardships and the monotonous processes between the player’s hotel and the event hall. The corona pandemic, however, has forced the players into a bubble that allows even less contact with the outside world, especially in the hot tournament phase in autumn.
“I’ve been separated from my family for four weeks,” said Petersen and paused: “I became a father and couldn’t see how the baby got bigger.” Then tears welled up in his eyes: “It’s hard. It’s one of those things that are constantly … “The 34-year-old collected himself briefly, then started again:” You know, it’s great on stage. We cheer and celebrate and so on. But there are other scenes behind it. Nobody sees the dark side, the dark side of darts. Its hard.”
On the morning of the last day of the group match, he called legend Phil Taylor: “He’s been doing this for 16 years and he told me that it is crucial that I know what I’m doing it for. That I do it for my family. This sacrifice is important. “
More will be requested until the turn of the year. After the final of the Grand Slam on Tuesday, the Players Championship Finals will continue on Friday next week. The world championship will follow in mid-December.
Gabriel Clemens gambled away the round of 16
While Petersen has his place on the seed list, Gabriel Clemens continues to tremble. The German gambled away his excellent starting position in the second round of the Grand Slam and was ranked 32nd, the last place on the seeding list, before the final Players Championship Finals.
Clemens, who had won against Joe Cullen at the start in Group A and then lost to Michael van Gerwen, finally met the until then winless Englishman Adam Hunt. The German could even have allowed himself a defeat two legs apart, but lost 5-2.
After a successful start with recordings of 125, 135 and 145 points, he got the break straight away: 1-0 over the double 10. A little later, Clemens also made 14 darts 2-0. His average of 107.4 indicated the sovereign fulfillment of the duty.
But then the thread broke. The Saarwellinger gave up two legs in a row and awarded a legdart on the double-18 to make it 3-1. A hit that would ultimately have meant the round of 16. Instead: 2: 2, 2: 3, 2: 4 and 2: 5. Clemens missed out on the £ 10,000 prize money awarded in the round of 16, has to be satisfied with £ 7,500 and is now careful not to drop out of the seeding list at the Players Championships Finals. In the first round he meets the formidable Dutchman Martijn Kleermaker.
Results Grand Slam of Darts, 3rd matchday
José De Sousa – Lisa Ashton 5: 1
Michael Smith – Krzysztof Ratajski 5: 2
Jonny Clayton – Mikuru Suzuki 5: 0
Gerwyn Price – Ryan Joyce 5: 4
Ian White – Dirk van Duijvenbode 5: 1
Devon Petersen – Peter Wright 5:2
Adam Hunt – Gabriel Clemens 5:2
Michael van Gerwen – Joe Cullen 5: 3
Round of 16
Friday, 8 p.m .:
Dimitri van den Bergh – Jonny Clayton
James Wade – Ian White
Simon Whitlock – Adam Hunt
Dave Chisnall – José De Sousa
Saturday, 8 p.m.:
Michael Smith – Rob Cross
Devon Petersen – Damon Heta
Michael van Gerwen – Gary Anderson
Gerwyn Price – Nathan Aspinall
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*Display: Every viewer has the opportunity to follow the tournament live on the DAZN streaming service (11.99 euros per month). If you don’t have a subscription, you can watch the game for free. DAZN offers all new customers the opportunity to test the offer for one month free of charge. You can cancel the subscription within the first month.
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