Van Gerwen defends European Darts Open title with victory over Cross in final

Van Gerwen claims his 29th total overall on the European Tour and of course the 1st of the season against an opponent also very much in form. He hit a 104 average en route to the victory with a highest checkout of 170 and three 180’s.
Both players were quite even on the doubles as well as the scoring with 61 percent for MVG compared to 60 percent for Cross. They are regarded as two of the best in the world and certainly showed it in this final.
MVG started as he meant to go on by claiming the first leg with the biggest finish of them all to set out a marker. He continued with a 14 darter to break Cross’s throw but Cross came straight back to lead 4-3.
At this point as well both players were averaging well over the 110 mark. In a very closely fought match for the most part, Van Gerwen came back to take the lead at 5-4.
This was closely fought to the end with it locked at 6-6. Mighty Mike though kicked into his final gear and from there claimed the win.
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Evening session (19:15 local time, 18:15 GMT)
Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen (104.57) 6-5 (103.55) Gerwyn Price
Mensur Suljovic (102.26) 6-2 (94.97) James Wade
Justin Pipe (92.55) 2-6 (101.63) Rob Cross
Daryl Gurney (93.38) 3-6 (92.83) Peter Wright
Semi-Finals
Michael van Gerwen (96.61) 7-5 (87.73) Mensur Suljovic
Rob Cross (104.24) 7-5 (99.33) Peter Wright
Final
Michael van Gerwen (104.79) 8-6 (100.27) Rob Cross
https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/1109944370604589056