The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsPeter Wright was one of the seeds to be dumped out of the Dutch Darts Masters on Saturday, as Michael van Gerwen, or MVG, kept his hopes alive of retaining his title in the Netherlands.
Ian White kicked off the action in the afternoon session with a 6-4 win over Home Nation qualifier Jeffery de Zwann, who had the support of the home crowd.
Steve Beaton edged out Gary Stone in a final leg decider, but Beaton held his nerve to progress to the last sixteen. Jamie Caven had no problems at all advancing to the next round, as he demolished John Henderson 6-0 in the third match of the afternoon.
Two eleventh leg deciders were on the adgenda in the next two matches as Kim Huybrechts sent William O’Connor home in dramatic circumstances, before the very deliberate Justin Pipe ended Rowby-John Rodriguez’s weekend of darts in a final leg shoot-out.
Steven Bunting was the first of the seeds to crash out of the event, and Josh Payne capitalised on a poor performance from ‘The Bullet’, who struggled on his finishes as he was beaten 6-4.
The Dutch crowd were shocked when their man Vincent van der Voort failed to hold throw in the final leg, allowing young Nathan Aspinall to fire in a fourteen-dart-leg to progress to the final day of the tournament. Brendan Dolan rounded off the afternoon’s play with a convincing 6-1 win over Christian Kist.
Afternoon Session Results:
Ian White 6-4 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Steve Beaton 6-5 Gary Stone
Jamie Caven 6-0 John Henderson
Kim Huybrechts 6-5 William O’Connor
Justin Pipe 6-5 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Stephen Bunting 4-6 Josh Payne
Vincent van der Voort 5-6 Nathan Aspinall
Brendan Dolan 6-1 Christian Kist
Terry Jenkins and Jerry Hendricks were the first on the stage in the evening session, and Hendricks failed to pull off a shock as Jenkins triumphed 6-3 to progress to round three. Mervyn King then sent ‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans packing in the second match, with a 6-1 win doing the job for ‘The King’.
David Pallett shocked James Wade in the third match of the evening as he managed to knock ‘The Machine’ out of the tournament with a 6-4 win over the Premier League player. Michael Smith lived up to his high seeding of seed number two with a solid 6-1 win over John Michael.
Peter Wright was another seed that fell on Saturday in Venray as Kyle Anderson brushed aside ‘Snakebite’, who like others, struggled with his doubles as he was knocked out of the tournament in the last 32.
Simon Whitlock came from behind to win in his last 32 match with the promising young Max Hopp. The youngster went ahead early on in the piece, but ‘The Wizard’ came back to record a 6-3 win to progress.
MVG booked his place in the next round after defeating Mensur Suljovic 6-2 in the penultimate match of the day as the ‘Green Machine’ averaged over 103 to book his place in the next round. Dave Chisnall held his nerve in a last leg shoot-out to silence the Dutch crowd and knock out Jelle Klassen and end a high quality day of darts.
Evening Session Results:
Terry Jenkins 6-3 Jerry Hendriks
Mervyn King 6-1 Ricky Evans
James Wade 4-6 David Pallett
Michael Smith 6-1 John Michael
Peter Wright 2-6 Kyle Anderson
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Max Hopp
Michael van Gerwen 6-2 Mensur Suljovic
Dave Chisnall 6-5 Jelle Klaasen
