Peter Wright looked exhausted as he stepped up to the microphone. And the audience also needed a little to process what they had just experienced. “I think the people here liked it,” said the darts world champion, waving at the event hall in Leicester, England, with a weary smile.
The World Grand Prix has been played there since Monday. A major tournament that draws its fascination from the special mode: double in/double out. In his quarterfinals against Dimitri van den Bergh, Wright struggled with both challenges, despite an outstanding game at times.
“I had my chances, didn’t take them, and then Dimi punished me again and again. And then, in the end, he had the opportunity himself. I’m grateful that I got another chance,” said the 52-year-old.
The pairing itself had made the fight for the semi-finals particularly difficult for both opponents. There is still an ice age between the world champion and his former roommate, as the chilled atmosphere on stage made clear. Wright had spontaneously taken the Belgian into his house during the beginning of the Corona lockdown in 2020. However, since his loss in the quarterfinals of the Welt World Matchplay in the summer, the relationship has changed radically. Wright reacted angrily to the slow rhythm and various gestures of his foster son. Van den Bergh could not understand the criticism. Since then, we’ve only talked about each other.
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Background noise that became a minor matter early in the match and was overshadowed by the sport. Wright got the first break in the second leg. The Scot threw a 10-darter, just one dart away from perfect play. Especially with this unusual mode, sheer world class, which he also showed in the third leg with a 130 checkout.
In the second set, “Snakebite” had the chance to make a preliminary decision in the decider, but missed his first set dart on the double 20 and was also unable to use another shot to erase the 40 points. Van den Bergh punished him on double 16 with the equalizer.
And the Belgian had the better end of the game in the third round as well, deciding the decider to make it 2-1. Set four went back to Wright after van den Bergh twice missed going into the decider on double 16 at 2-1.
The world champion now seemed unstoppable, quickly leading 2-0 in the decisive round, but then missed match darts on the bullseye, double 8 and double 4. Van den Bergh reduced it to 1:2, then got his throw-in to make it 2:2 and even had victory in mind when Wright missed two more match darts on tops and the Belgian was down to 24 points.
The drama seemed perfect, much to Wright’s chagrin, but took another turn as van den Bergh missed three narrow double 12s. “Snakebite” had already put his darts aside, but needed all three again to sink the last one into double ten.
Missed chances of winning and still won: World Champion Peter Wright
Quelle: Kieran Cleeves/PDC
A conceivably narrow success, especially since van den Bergh was ahead in the statistics such as average (88.55:84.59) and the double odds at the start (46%:37%) and at the checkout (39%:34%).
Wright thus also maintained the opportunity to be number one in the world rankings again from Monday. A win in the semi-finals is still necessary, where he meets Michael van Gerwen on Saturday evening (from 9 p.m. live on Sport1 and DAZN). The Dutchman defeated Chris Dobey 3:1 after minor teething troubles.
In the second semi-final, Price, who has to hope for a Wright defeat and then needs the tournament win to defend his top position, meets Nathan Aspinall, who in his quarter-finals had a whopping ten points on average (90.03) and also exactly ten percent when checking (52 percent) was better than his opponent Martin Lukeman and still narrowly won 3:2.
Price, on the other hand, made short work of the 3-0 win against Madars Razma. “A decent game from me, but I will have to improve in the semi-finals. It’s always a close game when Nathan and I compete,” Price said.
Results World Grand Prix
1 round:
Callan Rydz (ENG) – Krzystof Ratajski (POL) – 0: 2 (2: 3; 1: 3)
Brendan Dolan (NIL) – Stephen Bunting (ENG) 0:2 (2:3; 1:3)
Chris Dobey (ENG) – Luke Humphries (ENG) 2:0 (3:2; 3:0)
Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL) – Dave Chisnall (ENG) 2:1 (3:1; 2:3; 3:2)
Jonny Clayton (WAL/7) – Dirk van Duijvenbode (NED) 2:1 (1:3; 3:1; 3:1)
Peter Wright (SCO/2) – Kim Huybrechts (BEL) 2:0 (3:1; 3:2)
Michael van Gerwen (NED/3) – Gary Anderson (SCO) 2:0 (3:0; 3:2)
José de Sousa (ENG/6) – Adrian Lewis (ENG) 0:2 (2:3; 2:3)
Madars Razma (LAT) – Ryan Searle (ENG) 2:1 (3:1; 2:3; 3:0)
Ross Smith (ENG) – Andrew Gilding (ENG) 2:1 (0:3; 3:2; 3:1)
Danny Noppert (NED) – Gabriel Clemens (D) 2:0 (3:0; 3:2)
Joe Cullen (ENG) – Damon Heta (AUS) 2:1 (3:2; 0:3; 3:1)
Rob Cross (ENG/8) – Daryl Gurney (NIL) 1:2 (2:3; 3:1; 0:3)
James Wade (ENG/5) – Martin Lukeman (ENG) 1:2 (0:3; 3:1; 2:3)
Gerwyn Price (WAL/1) – Martin Schindler (D) 2:0 (3:1; 3:0)
Michael Smith (ENG/4) – Nathan Aspinall (ENG) 1:2 (1:3; 3:2; 0:3)
Round of 16:
Peter Wright (SCO / 2) – Krzystof Ratajski (POL) 3: 2 (3: 2; 2: 3; 2: 3; 3: 0; 3: 0)
Jonny Clayton (WAL/7) – Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL) 2:3
Stephen Bunting (ENG) – Michael van Gerwen (ENG/3) 2:3 (3:2; 0:3; 0:3; 3:2; 1:3)
Adrian Lewis (ENG) – Chris Dobey (ENG) 2:3 (3:0; 1:3, 2:3; 3:2; 2:3)
Martin Lukeman (ENG) – Ross Smith (ENG) 3:2 (2:3; 3:2; 3:0; 2:3; 3:2)
Daryl Gurney (NIL) – Madars Razma (LAT) 1: 3 (1: 3, 0: 3, 3, 1, 2: 3)
Gerwyn Price (WAL/1) – Joe Cullen (ENG) 3:2 (3:1; 0:3; 1:3; 3:0; 3:0)
Nathan Aspinall (ENG) – Danny Noppert (NED) 3:2 (2:3; 2:3; 3:1; 3:1; 3:2)
Quarterfinals:
Nathan Aspinall (ENG) – Martin Lukeman (ENG) 3:2 (3:1; 2:3; 3:0; 2:3; 3:1)
Gerwyn Price (WAL/1) – Madars Razma (LAT) 3:0 (3:1; 3:0; 3:1)
Peter Wright (SCO/2) – Dimitri van den Bergh (BEL) 3:2 (3:0; 2:3; 2:3; 3:1; 3:2)
Michael van Gerwen (ENG/3) – Chris Dobey (ENG) 3:1 (3:2; 2:3; 3:1; 3:1)
Semifinals:
Nathan Aspinall (ENG) – Gerwyn Price (WAL/1)
Peter Wright (SCO/2) – Michael van Gerwen (NED/3)
