Michael van Gerwen reached the fourth round of the World Darts Championship in London in a sensational way on Wednesday. With an average of no less than 107.66 per three arrows, the Dutchman was 4-2 too strong for Mensur Suljovic.
The 33-year-old Van Gerwen faced a remarkable amount of opposition from Suljovic, who was seventeen years older, number thirty on the placement list. The Austrian hit 65 percent on his doubles and also recorded a good average of 98.90.
Van Gerwen won the first two sets with an excellent average of 115.84, but then Suljovic came back brutally. De Brabander had to leave the third set to Suljovic and it was close to the born Serb also winning the fourth set. But Van Gerwen threw 180 twice in the decisive leg that Suljovic started and made it 3-1.
In the fifth set, ‘Mighty Mike’ got a chance to win the match on 121. But instead of throwing a bull’s eye, Van Gerwen deliberately left 32. He just hadn’t counted on Suljovic to throw out 161 an inning later. The Austrian therefore came back to 3-2.
Van Gerwen then broke Suljovic in the third leg of the fifth set and did not relinquish the leg he started. With that he decided the best match of this World Cup so far.
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Van Gerwen may meet Van Duijvenbode
In the fourth round, Van Gerwen may face his compatriot Dirk van Duijvenbode. ‘Aubergenius’ still has to beat Ross Smith on Thursday afternoon. Vincent van der Voort is the only other Dutchman still in the tournament and will play against Luke Humphries on Thursday evening.
Van Gerwen, who started the tournament with a resounding victory over Lewis Williams, is the top favorite for the overall victory in ‘Ally Pally’. This year he won the Premier League, the World Matchplay and the Players Championship Finals, among others. A year ago he had to withdraw from the World Cup because of a corona infection.
Earlier in the day, Danny Noppert (4-2 loss to Alan Soutar) and two-time world champion Gary Anderson (4-1 loss to Chris Dobey), among others, were eliminated. The evening program concludes with the match between Michael Smith and Martin Schindler.
