Thornton Takes Dusseldorf Win

Robert Thornton won the sixth European Tour event of this year, playing some of the best darts of his life on finals day Sunday. ‘The Thorn’ saw off Simon Whitlock, Jelle Klaasen, James Wade and Kim Huybrechts on his way to taking the title. Here is how the day’s action unfolded.

Afternoon Session:

Michael van Gerwen began the afternoon session with a commanding performance to book his place in the quarter-finals. The world number one dispatched of Johnny Haines via a 6-1 scoreline despite Haines missing crucial doubles to take a 2-0 lead.

In a match that swung both ways on numerous occasions, Alan Norris edged past Mervyn King in a eleventh leg decider. ‘Chuck’ Norris survived two match darts in the final leg, and then stepped up to win his third consecutive leg and win the match.

Despite Terry Jenkins putting in another good performance and hitting three maximums along the way with a 99 average, it was not enough to beat Northern Irish ace Brendan Dolan, who put was 50% on the doubles in completing a 6-4 win over ‘The Bull’.

It was an explosive performance from Kim Huybrechts in the fourth match of the afternoon when he beat Michael Smith, who won the last European Tour event, but failed to win two on the bounce as he fell to ‘The Hurricane’ at the last sixteen, who landed five 180s in a 6-4 victory.

James Wade come from behind to record a 6-4 win over Welshman Mark Webster. ‘The Machine’ came from 4-3 back to win three legs on the bounce to march on into the quarter-finals in the evening session of the European Darts Open.

A rampant Vincent van der Voort took full advantage of a lacklustre Justin Pipe performance, and run out a quick 6-1 winner over ‘The Force’. The rapid Dutchman raced into a 4-0 lead before Pipe won his only leg of the match, but it was nowhere near enough to derail VDV as he averaged just under 100.

Former UK Open champion Robert Thornton ensured that he would be playing in the evening session when he beat Simon Whitlock 6-3 in an impressive performance. The Scotsman hit four 180s and averaged just over a ton in the win.

Jelle Klaasen continued his fantastic form and followed up his 6-1 demolition of Dave Chisnall with a 6-0 whitewash of Devon Peterson, who in the opening stages did absolutely nothing wrong. But devastating Klaasen hit four maximums in a 6-0 victory.