It was easier than he had feared. Ricardo Pietreczko has moved into the second round of the Darts World Cup in London. The man from Nuremberg easily defeated the Japanese Mikuru Suzuki 3-0. This is the first time in the history of the PDC World Championship that four Germans have reached the second round in London. Florian Hempel ensured a successful German start with his first round victory on Sunday, Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler were already seeded for the round of the Top64 due to their ranking positions.
Pietreczko’s concern before his Ally Pally premiere was less his Japanese opponent and more the 3,200 fans in the sold-out hall. Traditionally, the London audience cheers on the women.
The German countered the first boos during the march with a wink and raised his left eyebrow. Up on the stage he grinned and commented on the audience’s reactions with laughter.
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Unlike in November at the Grand Slam of Darts against the Englishwoman Beau Greaves, when he lost 5-1 in frustration, the 29-year-old was not impressed and played his game right from the start. He confidently took the first set 3-0 and was celebrated by the German fans in the hall. An average of 92.37 points and the very good double rate (50 percent) were an expression of his convincing performance.
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“I didn’t think it would be so easy. But we know that Mikuru didn’t play to the best of her ability. And there were hardly any boos either. I was even cheered on,” the German marveled afterwards.
In advance, “Pikachu” had threatened “a boycott to interact with the audience” if the audience booed him again. “If people don’t want to see me, I don’t understand why I should accept something so disrespectful. “It’s absurd because it’s just disrespectful,” he said.
But the 41-year-old doesn’t give viewers any reason to hope for a sensation. In the entire match, she only earned two attempts on the doubles courts. Since one of them finished in the second set, at least the whitewash was prevented.
Disappointing performance: Mikuru Suzuki only created two chances on the double fields
Quelle: Getty Images/Tom Dulat
Pietreczko, on the other hand, impressed both athletically and mentally and can now even hope to reach the round of 16. His next opponent, the Englishman Callan Rydz, seeded number 32, has recently been extremely poor in form.
Horvat disappoints against De Decker
Dragutin Horvat had previously missed a perfect German first round record. The Kassel player lost to Mike De Decker 0:3. His start the evening before had already been unfortunate. The winner of the German Super League wanted to familiarize himself with the special atmosphere at Alexandra Palace, but was not allowed inside the hall and had to return to the players’ hotel disappointed.
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One evening later, Horvat made it to the World Cup stage, but quickly fell behind in terms of sport. Against number 37 in the Order of Merit, he missed six darts in the first set when the score was 1:2 to force the decider, gave up the first round and started the second set with the next loss of serve. His points average was a weak 78 points, hardly better than his only World Cup victory to date seven years ago. In the 2-1 win against Russian Boris Koltsow in December 2016, an average of 75.78 points was enough for him to win.
Seven years after his premiere, even a slight increase to 83.65 points was not enough for the 47-year-old against De Decker. The second round went to the Belgian 3-1, and he was unable to gain momentum in the fourth round either. Although he managed the high finish of 117 to get the break he needed in set three, he then gave up his serve again and ultimately had to acknowledge his opponent’s security on the doubles courts. De Decker hit nine of his 16 attempts at checkout, giving him a strong success rate of 56 percent.
“I’m just angry and disappointed. “You can lose, you can play badly,” said Horvat, “but what I played today was nothing, just nothing.”
Next opponent Gabriel Clemens: Man Lok Leung showed a strong performance
Quelle: Getty Images/Tom Dulat
From a German perspective, things continue on Thursday evening when Clemens, the 2023 World Cup semi-finalist, enters the tournament against Man Lok Leung from Hong Kong. Hempel and Schindler will then be required on Friday. The trio had already reached the second round last year and thus set the German record from the 2021 World Cup. At that time, three Germans, Max Hopp, Clemens and Nico Kurz, were in round two for the first time. So now a quartet for the first time.
Darts World Cup, results on December 19th
1 round:
Ian White (ENG) – Let’s Go (JPN)(2:3; 2:3; 3:1; 0:3)
Ritchie Edhouse (ENG) – Jeffrey de Graaf (SWE) 2:3 (3:2; 3:2; 2:3; 2:3; 1:3)
Keegan Brown (ENG) – Boris Krcmar (CRO) 1:3 (3:2; 0:3; 0:3; 2:3)
Steve Beaton (ENG) – Wessel Nijman (NED) 3:1 (3:1; 3:2; 0:3; 3:2)
Mike De Decker (BEL) – Dragutin Horvat (D) 3:0 (3:1; 3:1; 3:2)
Ricardo Pietreczko (D) – Mikuru Suzuki (JPN) 3:0 (3:0; 3:1; 3:0)
2nd round:
James Wade (ENG/13) – Matt Campbell (CAN) 2:3 (3:1; 1:3; 3:1; 0:3; 1:3)
Michael van Gerwen (NED/2) – Keane Barry (IRL) 3:0 (3:1; 3:1; 3:0)
Darts World Cup, schedule for December 20th
1st round (from 1.30 p.m.):
Radek Szaganski (POL) – Marko Kantele (FIN)
Steve Lennon (IRL) – Owen Bates (ENG)
William O’Connor (IRL) – Bhav Patel (IND)
2nd round:
Ross Smith (ENG/16) – Niels Zonneveld (NED)
1st round (from 8 p.m.):
Ryan Joyce (ENG) – Alex Spellman (USA)
Richard Veenstra (NED) – Ben Robb (NZL)
Christian Kist (NED) – Luke Littler (ENG)
2nd round:
Peter Wright (SCO/4) – Jim Williams (WAL)
