Scottish firefighter causes big surprise at the Darts World Cup
Marathon man: Alan Soutar went the full distance again against José de Sousa
Quelle: Getty Images/Luke Walker
For the third time at this World Cup, Alan Soutar went the full distance. And in the end he was also able to cheer against Jose de Sousa. In the last sixteen he meets Callan Rydz, who reached the next round at express speed.
BAlan Soutar had already stood before the end of the Darts World Cup twice. In the first round he threatened defeat against the exotic Diogo Portela from Brazil, in the second he even survived eight match darts against Mensur Suljovic and turned a 2-0 in sets and legs into a win.
Two games, two successes, and both times the World Cup debutant went 3-2 over the full distance. And in the third round, too, the Scot, who works as a firefighter in his home country and earned the tour ticket in January, lived up to his reputation as a marathon man.
Against Jose de Sousa, despite an average of 88.54 and a miserable double quota (26.2 percent), there was a 4: 3 success in the end. After Suljovic, the 43-year-old defeated the second seeded player and is the first round of 16 since Mark Webster 2014, who decided all three World Cup matches only in the decisive set.
Close duel: Alan Soutar had the better timing against José de Sousa
Quelle: Getty Images/Luke Walker
De Sousa, who entered the tournament as number seven, had already weakened in his 3-2 opening win against Jason Lowe and is now the third eliminated player from the top eight in the world at the World Cup. Against Soutar, the Portuguese only played 83.89 points on average and hit 34.2 percent of his doubles.
Previously, the Dutchman Michael van Gerwen had a positive corona test and Belgium’s Dimitri van den Bergh, who lost his second round match 1: 3 against the German Florian Hempel.
Soutar now wants to force Callan Rydz over the full distance on Thursday. The young Englishman again impressively demonstrated his strength of form and defeated compatriot Nathan Aspinall 4-0. Rydz played a 98.35, threw seven 180s, and hit more than 40 percent on the doubles.
“I could have lost the first two sentences,” Rydz reminded self-critically. The 23-year-old jumped into the top 32 of the world rankings with his win and now has a good perspective on the quarter-finals against Soutar. “I’ve known Alan for six years, we’ve already played against each other in country comparisons,” said Rydz, “and I’m only concentrating on this game. We’ll see what comes next. “
One-sided duel: Callan Rydz was a class better than Nathan Aspinall (right), after all number ten in the world rankings
Quelle: Getty Images/Luke Walker
The complete schedule and the tournament tree can be found here
Darts World Cup, results
3rd round
Jose de Sousa (POR/7) – Alan Soutar (SCO) 3:4
Dave Chisnall (ENG / 14) – Luke Humphries (ENG / 19) without a fight (after Chisnall’s corona test was positive)
Nathan Aspinall (ENG/10) – Callan Rydz (ENG) 0:4
Gary Anderson (SCO/6) – Ian White (ENG/27)
Round of 16
Gerwyn Price (WAL / 1) – Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED / 17)
Jonny Clayton (WAL/8) – Michael Smith (ENG/9)
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