NOPPERT INTO THE LAST FOUR! German hopes are dashed at the last in Dortmund as Danny Noppert beats Ricardo Pietreczko 10-9 to progress. 📺 bit.ly/EC24Live #ECDarts24
Danny Noppert shows resilience in Pietreczko win, set for Double Dutch semi-final at European Championship
PDCSunday, 27 October 2024 at 16:15
We will have a Dutchman in the final of the European Darts Championship anyway. Following Jermaine Wattimena, Danny Noppert has also secured a spot in the last four. The two Dutchmen will take on each other Sunday night in the semifinals.
It was a very surprising afternoon in Dortmund, after big names like Michael Smith, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler were eliminated earlier in the tournament. In the first three quarter-finals, it was also the outsider who managed to win from the favorite. Luke Woodhouse beat Dirk van Duijvenbode, while Ritchie Edhouse caused a surprise against Gary Anderson. The biggest shock, however, came from Wattimena, who beat reigning world champion Luke Humphries.
Had Pietreczko won against Noppert, there would have been four players from outside the top-32 in the world rankings in the semifinals of this major. Noppert put a stop to that, however, and is the only player in the semifinals who has won a PDC tournament at all.
After three one-sided quarter-finals, the match between Pietreczko and Noppert was exciting. Pietreczko got off to a spectacular start by breaking Noppert in the first leg with a 10-darter. The German had three chances later to go into the break with a 4-1 lead, but could not find the necessary double. As a result, Noppert stayed in the match and closed to 2-3 via tops.
Noppert then took over the lead with an 11-darter and a 48 finish. Through a 12-darter in the eighth leg, "The Freeze" then came up with a break of his own. Pietreczko returned to 5-5 by hitting 69 and 164. Noppert then gave away the initiative by missing two doubles in the eleventh leg. Pietreczko took advantage of the opportunity and hit 76 to make it 6-5.
In the 13th leg, Noppert had two chances to undo that break, but again the chances were not taken. Pietreczko dealt the next blow by throwing out 80 to take a 9-7 lead with a 56 finish and a 13-darter.
The task for Noppert became immediately clear after that, as he needed to win all three of the remaining legs to still get into the semifinals. An 80 check-out brought Noppert back to 8-9, before forcing an important rebreak with a 15-darter. In the leg decider, the Dutchman again showed his class by winning the match with an 80 finish.
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- Agreed, thebogeyman. Remember the boxing farce at this year's Olympics... a guy posing as a woman winning the Gold Medal, grim. They should do men who think they are women (separate) competition and award a pair of tight pants for the winner.MrYnyslas197125-10-2024
- What a paltry pay day. Is the Championship going to be on TV or YouTube. I still believe the BBC sunk the BDO when they dumped it for that ridiculous champions league that also died without trace. The prize money for the girls is terrible, why can't they win the same as the boys. It will hardly entice girls to enter the sport. Although hell knows what the future is for darts with the transgender craze.richieburnettrocks24-10-2024
- "Surely darts has little to do with physicality?" If that was true, there would not be women's events for the mentally ill bloke to play in.thebogeyman24-10-2024
- My god what a clown this guy is.... So REAL women should take pills to suppress natural processes to make it equal as he does not have such symptoms? And no: you are not winning because you put in the time and money, you are winning because you have an unfair advantage. Men play better than women, it is a fact. And let's not forget he was in the top 10 of the world in the boys earlier in life!DannyJ23-10-2024