tournament in London
Darts World Cup over for Germans: Clemens and Merk out
As expected, Gabriel Clemens is eliminated from the Darts World Cup against tournament favorite Luke Humphries. Debutant Arno Merk misses the next surprise coup.
The Darts World Cup ended early for the German professionals. In the evening, Gabriel Clemens and Arno Merk lost their third round games one after the other and were the last of the eight Germans who started to be eliminated. Clemens missed a surprise against England’s Luke Humphries despite a strong performance.
Out against tournament favorites
At 2:4, the 42-year-old from Saarland fell behind too quickly and had to admit defeat to the number two seeded former world champion in a high-class match. Debutant Merk clearly lost 1:4 to three-time champion Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands). The Lower Saxony can look forward to the World Cup with satisfaction after victories over Kim Huybrechts and Peter Wright. Humphries and van Gerwen are considered major challengers to defending champion Luke Littler.
For Clemens, the tournament went more than well after a difficult year. The German won 3-0 in round one against US outsider Alex Spellman and in round two against Dutchman Wessel Nijman. Three years ago, Clemens unexpectedly reached the World Cup semi-finals and was the only German to date.
Not enough highlight moments from Clemens
Clemens played at a high level against Humphries – he had some highlight moments, especially in the fourth and fifth sets. But this wasn’t enough for the 2024 world champion in absolute top form. In the sixth set, the outsider missed several chances to bring the game into a decisive seventh set.
Before the duo, Ricardo Pietreczko and Martin Schindler were also eliminated in round three. Pietreczko lost to Swedish debutant Andreas Harrysson 2:4. The German leader Schindler had no chance in the 4-0 defeat against the Englishman Ryan Searle.
dpa
