Sports sensation at the Darts World Cup
World number 52 throws out superstar Michael van Gerwen
Status: 01.01.2024 | Reading time: 4 minutes
Cult caller Bray leaves the big stage
After the World Championships in January, darts is probably losing its most famous voice, Russ Bray. As “The Voice” announced on Thursday, the World Cup final will be his last. The 66-year-old will remain with the PDC in a different role.
The death of favorites at the Darts World Cup continues. Michael van Gerwen lost sensationally against the unseeded Englishman Scott Williams. The evening had already started badly for the superstar. Luke Humphries then underlined his title ambitions.
The two-time world champion Peter Wright and World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall were caught right at the start. Gerwyn Price was eliminated in round three, defending champion Michael Smith and Gary Anderson were eliminated in the round of 16. Now one of the two big favorites, Michael van Gerwen, was thrown out early from the Darts World Cup in London’s Alexandra Palace.
The Dutchman lost 3:5 to Scott Williams, number 52 in the world, in the quarterfinals. “He was number one in the live ranking, so I just knocked the best player in the world out of the tournament,” the deserved winner cheered: “He wasn’t the Michael van Gerwen as we knew from the last games. But that’s not my problem.”
The fact that the daily form in the new year could not match that of the previous year was apparent early on with “Mighty Mike”. Both players threw a total of nine darts past the doubles in the first leg before Williams checked. However, the weaknesses continued for the Dutchman. Seven missed checkouts resulted in a 0:3 and thus his first set loss of this tournament.
Was the first to get up to speed: Scott Williams was the first player to win a set against Michael van Gerwen at this World Cup – and followed that with four more
Quelle: AP/Kin Cheung
He even made three more errors before the 34-year-old finally secured his first leg to make it 1-0 in the second round and seemed to be gaining momentum as usual. He equalized 3-1 and averaged 107 points. But van Gerwen was only able to win the third set after his opponent missed five set darts. Unusual weaknesses that Williams then made better use of and won the fourth set 3-0 after two breaks.
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Van Gerwen’s doubles rate stagnated at 22 percent, and by the time the Englishman had won set five 3-0, the last player was also warned that the world number two was threatened with elimination that evening. The favorite equalized again to make it 3-3, but it wasn’t just timing or checkout that helped Williams stay in the game. The 33-year-old also had four more 100+ shots than his usual high-scoring opponent.
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In the seventh set, Williams missed two chances to break 2-0, which van Gerwen punished with triple-19, double-19, but Williams still won the set 3-1. Overall, the Englishman was now clearly ahead with 15:10 legs. Van Gerwen also continued to lack security at the checkout, as he reminded us again at the beginning of round eight. Five arrows had already flown past the outer ring in a row, his average dropped to 92 points, but Williams didn’t grab the potentially decisive break yet, so MVG secured the 1-0 lead. It should be his last leg. Williams confidently completed his throw, then made the necessary break perfectly and crossed the finish line thanks to his twelfth 180. The first match dart was in double 16.
Humphries was extremely strong against Chisnall
“The double 16 will now remain my favorite double for all time,” said Williams, who somewhat surprisingly forewent his usual antics and mind games against the previously seemingly invincible van Gerwen: “I was a good boy tonight.”
In the semi-finals on Tuesday, Williams will face Luke Humphries. The Englishman defeated Dave Chisnall 5-1 in a top-class duel. Chisnall averaged 97.38 and hit 33 percent of his attempts on doubles. Humphries scored 103.5 points and 40.5 percent. The 28-year-old made the preliminary decision with a 121 high finish in the decider of the fifth set to make it 4-1. With a victory over Williams, “Cool Hand Luke” would be the new number one in the world for the first time.
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In the afternoon, super talent Luke Littler and Rob Cross qualified for the first semi-final. The 16-year-old Littler also won the fifth game at his first World Cup, defeating world number 28 Brendan Dolan 4-1. Cross had prevailed against Chris Dobey in his quarter-finals despite being 0:4 sets down.
There is only one direction: things continue to look up for Luke Littler (right) after his victory over Brendan Dolan
Quelle: AP/Kin Cheung
Darts World Cup, quarter-finals on January 1st
Chris Dobey (ENG/17) – Rob Cross (ENG/8) 4:5 nV (3:1; 3:2; 3:0; 3:0; 1:3; 1:3; 2:3; 1: 3; 3:5)
Luke Littler (ENG) – Brendan Dolan (NIR/28) 5:1 (3:2; 3:0; 3:2; 3:1; 1:3; 3:0)
Michael van Gerwen (NED/2) – Scott Williams (ENG) 3:5 (0:3; 3:1; 3:2; 0:3; 3:0; 1:3; 1:3; 1:3)
Luke Humphries (ENG/3) – Dave Chisnall (ENG/11) 5:1 (3:1; 2:3; 3:1; 3:2; 3:2; 3:0)
Darts World Cup, semi-finals on January 2nd
from 8:15 p.m
Rob Cross (ENG/8) – Luke Littler (ENG)
Scott Williams (ENG) – Luke Humphries (ENG/3)
