The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsMichael van Gerwen has secured his fifth win on the European Tour this year after beating Dave Chisnall in the final of the European Darts Matchplay in Innsbruck, Austria. The former World Champion overcame Raymond van Barnevld, home favourite Rowby-John Rodriguez, Robert Thornton and eventually Dave Chisnall in the final. Here is how the day’s action unfolded.
World Number four Peter Wright was the first man through to the quarter-finals following a 6-3 win over Benito van de Pas. ‘Snakebite’ changed his darts once again but that didn’t stop him from hitting four 180s on his way to victory.
Dave Chisnall raced into a massive 5-0 lead against Terry Jenkins, and in a last ditch attempt to remain in the competition ‘The Bull’ bounced back and levelled up at 5-5 only for Chisnall to hold his nerve and move into the next round after Jenkins missed two match darts.
Kim Huybrechts battled back from 2-0 down to record a 6-4 win over ‘The Force’ Justin Pipe. The Belgian hit 40% of his doubles and averaged 99 in a solid win over Pipe.
Huybrechts would end up facing David Pallett in the first round after he was lucky to come through a match against Alan Norris, who squandered nine match darts as he was beaten in a last-leg decider by Pallett in the battled of the unseeded players.
Vincent van der Voort was close to exiting the European Darts Matchplay, but he managed to reel off four consecutive legs to come back from 5-2 down against Ian White before taking out an excellent 145 to win the match.
Brendan Dolan found himself 3-0 up against Scotsman Robert Thornton, but he failed to take advantage as he crashed out of the competition, losing 6-4 to ‘The Thorn’ as he won six out of seven legs on his way to victory to set up a quarter-final tie with Vincent van der Voort.
Home favourite Rowby-John Rodriguez reached the quarter-final stage with a 6-4 win over Mervyn King. ‘The King’ won two consecutive legs to pull the score back to 4-4, but the young Austrian achieved the same feat and took the last two legs to secure victory.
Michael van Gerwen booked his place in the quarter-finals and set up a tie with Rowby-John Rodriguez following a 6-1 victory over Raymond van Barneveld. ‘Barney’ was far from his best as van Gerwen averaged 100 in the win.
Dave Chisnall won the first quarter-final of the evening session with a 6-3 win over Peter Wright. ‘Chizzy’ landed three maximums and hit 50% of his doubles averaging a very impressive 105 on his way to victory.
David Pallett extended his sensational European Darts Matchplay run with a quarter-final win over Kim Huybrechts in a last-leg decider. The Englishman reached his first ever PDC semi-final with the win, averaging 98 on his way to getting there.
Robert Thornton took his a highly impressive 142 checkout on his way to beating Vincent van der Voort in the third quarter-final of the evening. The Scotsman averaged 93 on his way to a 6-3 victory over the Dutchman.
Despite losing 6-3 to the World Number One, Rowby-John Rodriguez did himself justice in front of his home crowd averaging a solid 102, but it wasn’t enough to stop Michael van Gerwen, who averaged dead on 114.
It was Dave Chisnall that put David Pallett’s excellent run in the European Darts Match to end by beating the World Number 48 6-3. The Premier League star averaged just under 100 and reached the final, the second European Tour final in his career.
He would face Michael van Gerwen in the final, who recorded yet another 6-1 victory, and this time Robert Thornton was on the receiving end of a sensational performance as the Dutchman averaged a marvellous 109 in his semi-final victory.
Michael van Gerwen went on to claim his crown with a 6-4 win in the final over Chisnall. A 99 averaged secured a fifth European Tour win of this year. The World Number one broke throw in the first leg only to see ‘Chizzy’ break straight back. They exchanged breaks of throw to level at 4-4 before van Gerwen won the final two legs to take the title.
